


The Two Faced Reflection

by LouiseK150159



Series: Isabella Lestrange Series [1]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Danger, Dark, Dark Character, Double Life, Family Drama, Female Lead, Female Protagonist, Gen, Hogwarts, Hogwarts First Year, Lestrange Child, Lestrange Daughter, Lestrange Family, manipulative, sarcastic, two faced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-03 12:10:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17283830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouiseK150159/pseuds/LouiseK150159
Summary: The Lestange heir has just started her first year at Hogwarts and she's like nothing anyone has seen before. Due to unforeseen circumstances this 11-year-old girl now has to prove herself to regain what has been taken from her; and she'll use anyone to get there. She finds herself doing things she would have never imagined, befriending people she hates and listening out for everyone's deepest secrets whenever she can. Defying expectations from the very beginning, Isabella Lestrange will take Hogwarts by storm! (Set during 1st Year)





	1. Consequences

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Consequences_

 

 

Isabella watched as the clouds steadily moved across the sky following the breeze.

 

She watched as they hid the luminosity of the stars and moon from her sight.

 

She watched the movements of the clouds and how the light shined through small breaches in the mist, casting shadows on the stone floor below her.

 

One would almost believe it was real, it they didn’t know better that was.

 

You would believe that the room she was in had no ceiling. But the rain that fell from the skies did not touch her face, and the breeze did not cool her down or play with her hair. It was simply an enchantment, a parlour trick to impress those who didn’t know any better. A miniscule piece of magic designed to astound, and by the sound of the chatter around her it had worked. The people surrounding her gasped and pointed amazed by the sky shown on the inside of the building.

 

‘Pathetic’ she thought as she looked around her, turning her nose up at the easily impressed and less educated individuals.

 

She heard an obnoxious voice break through the general chatter.

 

“It’s not real the ceiling. It’s just bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in  _Hogwarts: A History_.’

 

The girl who belonged to the voice seemed to be more hair than person, almost as bad as the half-breed who brought them from the train. Her hair was loose and frizzy half covering the face of the swotty little girl.

 

“Mudblood?” Her cousin whispered to her with a look of disgust on his face.

 

“Most-likely.” She whispered back quickly meeting his eyes with a smirk, before looking forwards again. “You’ll have to learn tolerance Draco, they’re all over the place here, especially the half-ones.”

 

He turned his head away from her looking out at the crowd, it was as if he could discern just by sight who had pure-blood and who were less worthy. They continued walking down the hall between the four extended tables towards a single stool, with old moth bitten hat rested atop it. Now _that_ was impressive magic. To bring an object to life and give it intelligence, judgement and a will of its own. She didn’t hear the obnoxious girl admiring the hat though, it obviously wasn’t as show stopping as a see-through ceiling.

 

‘Short sighted fools, the lot of them.’ she thought to herself.

 

The older woman at the front of the room had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. She was a stern old-woman, dressed in traditional wizarding robes and hat, Isabella already knew her to be the head of the Gryffindor house. When she stood before them everyone immediately fell silent, including those already seated at the tables. She was the type of person that demanded your attention with a single look, and no-one seemed to go against her ruling.

 

She stood beside the stool and spoke out it a strong voice:

 

“Now before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words.”

 

The old man stood from his seat at the head on the hall. His beard reached his knees, and the robes he wore were deep purple with twinkling silver stars all over them. ‘Another way to impress the ignorant souls.’ Isabella rolled her eyes upwards, in a way that would have gotten her in much trouble at home had she been caught.

 

“I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to announce.” Dumbledore begun in a loud voice. “First year please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to _all_ students. Also, our care-taker Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the third-floor corridor on the right is off limits to all those who do not wish to die a terrible death. Thank-you”.

 

‘A terrible death? Now that’s interesting.’ The information was locked away, she’d be sure to figure out what the old man was referring to later.

 

As he sat back down he kept his attention solely on one person stood at the front of the crowd before him. She would have bet her cousins life that it was Harry Potter, she wouldn’t bet her own life on anything.

 

“Now, when I call your name, you will come forth. I will place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses.” McGonagall peered over the parchment she was holing up in front of her, making sure that they were all listening closely. Her eyes were serious and narrowed slightly as if looking for any trouble makers before they could even cause trouble. She must have been pleased with her assessment as she returned to her list and called out in that broad Scottish accent:

 

“Hermione Granger”

 

The obnoxious girl from before walked forwards, talking to herself in a quiet voice as she went. Taking excessively deep breaths, she perched on the very edge of the stool uncomfortably.

 

“Mental that one, I’m telling ya.” Weasley had spoken quietly to Potter who was stood at his side.

 

“Maybe he does have a semblance of intelligence after all.” She muttered to herself.

 

“Don’t be ridiculous. Even a blood-traitor would be able to tell that she’s mad, maybe all the magic has got to her muggle diseased brain.” Draco muttered back snidely making her laugh to herself quietly. Maybe it’s true, they must feel insane when they first come here, she could already be touched.

 

“GRYFFINDOR!”

 

The hat gave out a yell startling the people around her, she and Draco remained still and stoic though. They had been taught better. As Hermione ran to the Gryffindor table McGonagall called out the next name, then the next and then the next.

 

Hannah Abbott, Hufflepuff.

 

Susan Bones, Hufflepuff

 

Terry Boot, Ravenclaw.

 

Mandy Brocklehurst, Ravenclaw.

 

Lavender Brown, Gryffindor.

 

Millicent Bullstode, Slytherin,

 

On and on it went as names were called and children sorted. Slytherin welcomed their new members respectably with hand-shakes and cool indifference. The first years sat at the very end on the table poised and proper, that was where Isabella would be sat, that was where she belonged. They gave showed of the emotional greetings the other houses were giving.

 

Every time someone was sorted into Gryffindor the entire house stood from their benches and cheered, banging their hands on the tables, stamping their feet and whistling in celebration. Very uncouth, they were by far the loudest and most energetic of all the houses.

 

Ravenclaw were better, they welcomed their members with warm handshakes and conversation. Very dry conversation however, they immediately talked to them about the lessons they would be taking and asking which they were most excited about.

 

Hufflepuff were a mess. Every new member was greeted emotionally, she swears some of the students cried at each new student joining them. They were all hugs and sympathy and kindness. It was ridiculous.

 

But she didn’t need to worry about that, she was a Slytherin through and through. That was how her aunt and uncle had raised her. It’s how her mother and father would have raised her if they could. If the ministry hadn’t wrongfully imprisoned them.

 

Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor.

 

Unbelievable. The boy that had stood before her was the reason her parents were in prison, if only they could have seen him now. There is no way this boy would have been the one to vanquish the dark lord; he was short, fat and one-hundred percent should have been sent straight into Hufflepuff if the quivering of his chin was anything to go by.

 

As he ran back from the Gryffindor table to return the hat he had left on his head, he caught her eye. Clearly the glare she was wearing on her face was enough for him to get the message. His face was shocked as if he were taken aback, he obviously couldn’t understand why she disliked him so much already. But then again, he didn’t know who she was yet.

 

“Draco Malfoy” Professor McGonagall’s drawl was enough to interrupt her thoughts again. She watched her cousin leave her side and walk towards the hat. He seated himself on the stool comfortably with no trace of nerves on his face. She nodded at him when his eyes passed over her, letting him know he did well. The hat had barely touched even a hair on his head when it shouted out:

 

“SLYTHERIN!”

 

She smirked at him as she walked slowly towards Slytherin where he was greeted by some of the older students.

 

Harry Potter’s turn was next. As his name was called out whispering descended upon the hall, everyone craned to get a look at the boy-who-had-the-audacity-to-live. She rolled her eyes up again, these people were starting to test her patience. He was sorted into Gryffindor and received the largest applause yet, several of the students started chanting.

 

“We got Potter! We got Potter!”

 

 ‘As if that’s something to celebrate.’ She thought to herself.

 

Ron was sorted after that, of course he made Gryffindor along with all his other siblings.

 

And then, finally, it was her turn.

 

“Isabella Lestrange.”

 

The reaction to Potter’s name was nothing compared to this.

 

Silence immediately stretched across the hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to watch her, even Professor McGonagall seemed to take a deep breath after she read the name aloud. Isabella was used to this; her name was just as infamous and Potters was famous. The only noise heard throughout the hall was a small gasp from the Gryffindor table. Isabella turned around to look at where the noise came from.

 

It was Longbottom, he finally understood. His face had gone pale as all the blood left it, he was in utter shock as he stared at her and look as if he would be sick. One of the older students came and sat by his side to give him support – they obviously knew what happened. She threw the sweetest smile she could his way while looking directly in his eyes, he immediately turned away.

 

Harry Potter looked around him in complete confusion, he nudged Ron in his side so that he would tell him what happened, but Ron never even moved his eyes away from Isabella.

 

She slowly walked up the steps with intent, letting everyone take a good look at the Lestrange girl they never thought they would know. She smiled again at McGonagall as she sat on the chair, but received nothing but a narrow-eyed stare over thin pale lips in response. The hat was placed on her head and she heard the only noise in the hall.

 

The hat was speaking to her.

 

 _“Interesting. Very Interesting. You have the same morals and beliefs as your cousin, yes that’s true. All that blood purity rage and an interest in_ dark magic _. On the surface you are Slytherin through and through, just like your mother. Just like your father. But there is something else… something deeper that even you don’t know of yet. How very curious._

_“There is more to you than meets the eye Miss. Lestrange, more to you than even you know. Your soul runs deeper than many, especially those in Slytherin, hmmm…what to do with you?”_

 

Isabella began to feel confused and annoyed. She was Slytherin. She knew she was. So why hadn’t the hat shouted it out already.

 

_“Yes, yes I suppose you are. Well… you are right now. But there is so much room for change. The power you will possess will be immense, and the role you take on will be even more so. These things may change you, so will you be Slytherin for long? …I think not. Believe me, you won’t like this my dear, but it’s better for you this way. In fact, it’s better for everyone.”_

 

There was a pregnant pause in the hall as Isabella’s eyes widened in shock. This was not happening. The hat said she was a Slytherin, so she should be put in Slytherin.

 

Blind panic overtook her, what if it put her in Gryffindor?

 

The hat was trying to mould her, make her good and change her beliefs by putting her in the most disgusting house of all Hogwarts. It was wrong! The panic immediately changed to rage, and heat flowed through her body as she took a deep breath and tried not to let it show. All the emotion was swirling around her body and thoughts flying through her head. She was half surprised her magic didn’t lash out and wreak havoc. McGonagall however did take a step back obviously sensing a change.

 

She didn’t know if she wanted to cry, to scream, to incinerate the damned hat before it could speak, or to simply kill Longbottom then and there to prove how Slytherin she could be, consequences be damned. At least then she could be with her mother and father even if it was in Azkaban.

 

 Just as she was about the act the hat yelled out, and in her panic, Isabella was surprised she even heard what it had said.

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!”


	2. Fluff Balls

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Fluff Balls_

 

 

That one word was all it took. All the rage, the panic, the upset and the confusion simply flowed out of her. Hufflepuff. All that was left was shock. That and a rather large stone in her stomach, 7 years of hell in Hufflepuff house. Now that could make her go mad.

 

The hall was just as shocked as she was.

 

She felt the hat be lifted from her head, and acknowledged the light shove she received urging her to go to the Hufflepuff house table. She stood and walked slowly yet again, this time for a _completely_ different reason.

 

When she sat down at the table she did not receive the hugs and tears all her other housemates did, much to her relief. Instead as she sat down the people around her scooted away as far as they could. When she looked up there was no-one sat across from her or directly beside her, this was wise thinking on their part given her current mood.

 

Sound slowly flooded back into the great hall as the sorting continued, but she still felt the stares of the students on her. Those sat near her were barely breathing, never mind talking. She looked up and sought out her cousin on the Slytherin table, he wasn’t looking her way, in fact he was going out of his way to look at anything but her, that or he had a new thing for Professor McGonagall staring at her so intently.

 

This was a storm that she wasn’t prepared for, and it all made no sense. In what world was she a Hufflepuff. They were almost as bad as the Gryffindors when it came to behaviour and wishy-washy nonsense like feelings and team-spirit. But even then, at least Gryffindor had pride, Hufflepuff was pathetic. They had no famous witches or wizards, and no defining traits what so ever.

 

Gryffindors were Brave.

 

Ravenclaws were Smart.

 

Slytherins were Cunning.

 

Hufflepuffs were little fluffy balls made up of emotion and not much else.

 

It was humiliating, and it made no sense at all. Not to her and not to anyone around her. The entire hall was just as shocked as she was, including the teachers.

 

It just didn’t make sense!

 

And what the hat said was equally ridiculous, maybe the magic used to bring it to life wasn’t that great after all. Maybe it was malfunctioning. Whatever the cause was, never once in whole history of Hogwarts had a student swapped houses, she was stuck here. Stuck here with a ‘deep soul’ whatever that meant. But at least she had learnt something from the hat, it told her that she was going to be powerful and that she was going to have a large part to play in the future. Maybe it thought putting her in Slytherin would make her want to be good, make her soft so she would play for a different side instead. Not a chance.

 

What’s done is done. Now she has to deal with the aftermath. She knows that the first thing Draco is going to do when he is shown to his dorm is write to Uncle Lucius, he’ll tell him what a disappointment she is, there’s no doubt about that.

 

So, that’s first. Try to think up a plausible excuse as to why the sole heir of the Lestrange family was sorted into Hufflepuff and not Slytherin. It needed to be better than what the hat told her as well, she was not telling Lucius that is was because she had a deeper soul and more significant future than him. That would just make it worse.

 

Secondly, she should probably try to fit in. She was going to be in this house for 7 years and there was no getting out of that. She needed to integrate herself into the Hogwarts social network, as difficult as that may be. At least they all thought she was like the other Hufflepuffs, that would make her life easier. Maybe she could learn useful information while she was doing it as well, if she made friends with the right people she could learn things to help further herself, and her cause.

 

When the dark lord returns that could be useful. Uncle Lucius always said that one day he will be back to defeat the light for good, maybe that would be her role. That would work.

 

Making up her mind, she closed her eyes and centred herself. She focused on her face first, softening out her features, allowing the frown to fall from her face and her lips to soften. She then let a small smile out and relaxed her body, settling into the bench and looking up.

 

‘There, much more approachable.’ She thought.

 

Slowly the people around her started to relax, thinking that she had calmed down. Some even scooted a little closer to her again to get more comfortable on the bench. Though they didn’t speak to her, they all soon relaxed and spoke with each other as they all ate together.

 

The meal continued on in the hall, at one point someone even poured a glass of pumpkin juice for her. One of the older students who obviously took pity, she smiled thankfully at him and he smiled back sympathetically. The fool. She was going to manipulate everyone around her solely for her own benefit. Like a wolf hiding among the sheep.

 

It still didn’t make any sense. But at least she could have fun since she couldn’t get out of it. Dear god, they were already getting to her, she was starting to think on the bright side.

 

* * *

 

After the meal ended she and the other first years were gathered up by two annoyingly happy and perky prefects, who then guided them through the halls and to the Hufflepuff Common room.

 

The common room was decorated in yellow and cream colours. The windows were all large and circular and showed a view of a large field and a lake, there were various sofas all around and even small beanbags with short tables to study on with them. The floor was a white carpet and the walls and ceiling were paned with wood. It was overall very warm and very yellow.

 

Isabella preferred green.

 

The two prefects walked up to the front of the room and started their, obviously rehearsed, speech.

 

“Welcome, to our new members! This is the Hufflepuff common room and we are your _perfect prefects_!”

 

Oh no, they were trying to make jokes. Isabella thought the Slytherin prefects probably just opened the door for the first years and leave them to it, that would be perfect right about now.

 

“This is where you are going to spend most of your time, doing homework, making friends and having fun. Just remember that you can’t tell the other houses where our common room is. We don’t have a password here to get in because we fully trust the students in the school to be responsible and not put each other’s safety at risk.”

 

Isabella couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but it clearly made sense to the others who were all nodding their heads in agreement with the ‘perfect’ prefect.

 

“We also want you to know, that if you are ever struggling with classes, homework or even making friends you can always approach one of the older students to help you, they will be more than happy to. Each student has been assigned an individual room because we know how important space and quiet can be for you, additionally you have all been assigned a friend.”

 

She was yet again gobsmacked. She didn’t want a friend.

 

She was only interested in talking to interesting people, who actually had some sort of important connection or information that she could use to her own benefit. Not whoever this loony has assigned her.

 

“Your new friend will be an older student, who has gone through the same experience as you have today.”

 

Highly Doubtful

 

“They will show you around the school, take you to your lesson, help with your homework, and sit with you at meals. Anything you need they will support you the best they can. Tonight, you will be shown to your rooms, tomorrow you will be given you class list and find out who your friend is.”

 

The prefect seemed far too excited for this to be natural. Despite the cynical internal thoughts Isabella was having, she managed to keep a straight face throughout his speech. She nodded along with the other students, she smiled and she even put on a little show of looking excited along with the others.

 

They were quickly shown to their rooms after the speech. Inside her room she had a white carpet and wooden walls. A large window that overlooked the castle, her room must have been in one of the turrets because she could see almost everything from it. There was also an en-suit bathroom with a bath and shower, a desk and chair, a large wardrobe with a mirror and a humongous four poster bed.

 

She knew that the Slytherins shared dormitories so at least this was something to appreciate. She unpacked her bags completely, hanging all her clothes, putting her toiletries into the bathroom and storing her trunk away atop her wardrobe. Just as she finished unpacking there was a knock at the window.

 

It was her Uncle Lucius’s owl.

 

She opened the latch and let him in, he was a large owl that was completely black. No matter how many times she has seen it though it had never taken to her, always biting at her hands and trying to dig his talons into her arm. She released the scroll attached to his leg as quickly as possible, as soon as the letter was taken he immediately flew back out the window into the night.

 

‘Not wanting a reply then’ Isabella thought as she tore the envelope open. ‘That’s either really good, or really bad.’

 

* * *

 

_Dear Isabella,_

_Upon receiving Draco’s letter this evening, me and Narcissa were informed of the unfortunate events of the night. I believe as you are directly involved you should know what has transpired since, know that it is only through courtesy that you are receiving this information._

_You and Draco were raised together both held to the same standards, both educated and disciplined equally. He took it upon himself to take in my teachings, evidently you did not, leading us to our current dilemma. As a part of a true pure-blooded family you are held to certain expectations, and these expectations must be fulfilled. When they are not, there will be consequences._

_Up until now I have judged you, mistakenly, as a true pure-blooded young lady with the capabilities to take on the role one day as head of the Lestrange house. The previously mentioned event has in fact proven otherwise. There is a clause within your family law that states only Slytherin members of the bloodline can be truly accepted within the family, if a member is sorted otherwise, they are to immediately be removed._

_As you are now a part of another house, you have officially been removed from the Lestrange family by law. All of your titles, holdings, wealth and property have been revoked and you are also no longer under the care of the Malfoy family._

_There is another clause in the law that stated if in the future you prove yourself, you may be accepted within the family once again. However, in order to prove yourself to this extent you must do something rather miraculous and nothing short of it._

_You are now a ward of the Ministry and they will sort housing for you over the summer periods. Dumbledore will be made aware of this and you may discuss further with him.  You will not receive any further contact from me or Narcissa. Nor do we wish to receive any from you._

_Regards,_

_Lord and Lady Malfoy_

* * *

Isabella sighed to herself after reading the letter, she admitted to herself that this was probably what she should have expected. She knew the family law back to front, she just hadn’t thought it would happen so quickly. She counted on being able to explain herself to her Unc… to Lucius but now she couldn’t even do that. Not that there was any plausible reason for this to happen.

 

But now… she was orphaned. She had no money, no family, absolutely nothing to her name. She didn’t even know if she could carry on using the Lestrange name.

 

The lost feeling that had started to settle upon her almost immediately faded away. She drew out some parchment and wrote a letter of her own, the last she would ever write to the Malfoy family.

 

* * *

 

 

_I fully accept the consequences of tonight’s evets Lord Malfoy, the Lestrange law is absolute, I am no longer a part of that family. However, that did not necessitate you removing me as your ward and sending me to the ministry an orphan. You have made the decision tonight to betray me and my trust in you, and from that I have learned a lesson. I will prove myself and regain my title._

_From this moment on I endeavour to become as a powerful witch as I can, and in that I will succeed. One day I will hold your life in my hands and on that day, I will allow you to beg for forgiveness._

_Know that I am more Slytherin than your son will ever be, and know that this night you have made a grave mistake._

_Isabella._

 

* * *

 

 

Evidently there was only one option left to her – she would just have to prove herself.


	3. Blue Fog

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Blue Fog_

 

 

The chattering of her housemates is what woke her early the next morning.

 

They were on their way down to the common room and were debating whether to invite her or not. Hufflepuffs that they are, their courage failed them and they left without her. She smiled to herself as she thought about the effect that she had other people, she loved how they avoided her and feared even speaking to her.

 

The events of last night still hadn’t quite sunk in. Isabella was sure that soon enough it was going to get to her, that it was all going to come crashing down and destroy the false calm she was currently surrounding herself with. Everything she had ever hoped for herself and relied on had been taken away. Merlin! She needed a plan,

 

She got out of her bed and readied herself for the day, picked up her book bag and left for the great hall. Working her way back the way they came yesterday was much more difficult than she originally imagined, you never knew when the staircase would move and all the paintings on the wall shouted out false directions in the hopes of confusing you.

 

When she arrived, breakfast was already half way through and the hall was full of students. She sat down by herself in the middle of the Hufflepuff table, avoiding bumping into the students or walking through the ghosts that were milling around. For the most part she was ignored but occasionally someone would look up and stare at her, only to look away as soon as she caught them. In particular she had caught Harry Potter staring at her several times, ignoring the nudges of his housemates telling him to look away. They must have told him about her family by now.

 

The next time she caught him looking at her, she put a small but sweet smile on her face as she met his eyes. His eyes widened at being caught and he immediately turned away to talk to Ron and didn’t stare again for the rest of the meal. But Isabella had already started planning in her head.

 

If there was anyone worth making friends with in this whole castle it would him. With her new orphaned status she certainly wouldn’t be accepted within her usual social circles, making friends with Potter might save her a lot of trouble down the road. It wouldn’t hurt to make herself look more trust worthy to those around her either, even if she further alienated herself from her cousin and their friends.

 

Her plans were interrupted by a plump older lady who came over to give her a class schedule. 

 

“Hello dear, my name is Professor Sprout and I’m the head of Hufflepuff house, I’m also your herbology teacher so if you ever need a helping hand just let me know.” The woman seemed to be nervous but was putting on a brave front with a big smile.

 

‘Time to start the act.’ Thought Isabella.

 

“Hello Professor, I’m Isabella. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She kept her voice sweet and quiet, and didn’t meet the eyes of the other lady for too long. She had decided last night that shy and sweet was probably the best way to convince people she wasn’t going to kill them all at any second. If she was confident or loud it might come off as too strong and scare people away – not productive at all.

 

She hesitantly took the schedule out of Sprouts hand and set it on the table before her.

 

“Thank-you very much Professor.” The woman looked taken aback at her manner, but soon recovered and replied kindly.

 

“That’s perfectly alright dear.”

 

The professor moved on to the next student as Isabella checked her schedule. Transfiguration, Potions, then History of Magic were todays lessons. and right there at the bottom of the paper was something she had forgot. The name of her new friend:

 

Cedric Diggory.

 

She would probably meet him later in the common room, so for now she picked up a croissant from the table and left for transfiguration.

 

* * *

 

“Phew! Made it!” The class had all lifted their heads to look at Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, they had just run into class slamming the door as they went. They walked past her table without even looking in her direction. They probably saw the glare on Granger’s face though, it was rather hard to miss.

 

“Can you imagine the look on old McGonagall’s face if were late?” Ron continued.

 

Isabella ducked her head down to hide her smile as she continued on with her work. They were learning how to turn a snail into a teapot.

 

McGonagall transfigured herself back from her cat form and approached the boys who were 10 minutes late.

 

“That was bloody brilliant!” Ron practically shouted. Definitely not the brightest spark decided Isabella.

 

“Well thank-you for that assessment Mr. Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure you and Mr. Potter into a pocket watch? That way one of you might be on time.”

 

“We got lost.” Harry explained.

 

“Then perhaps a map? I trust you don’t need one to find you seats.”

 

McGonagall wasn’t giving in, even to her own Gryffindors. Her cousin was sniggering at the boys from where he was sitting at the front of the class, obviously he wasn’t smart enough to stay under the Professors radar.

 

The head of Gryffindor had been looking at the first years speculatively since they entered the castle, trying to discern who was trouble and who was not. Malfoy just got himself on the trouble list alongside Potter and Weasley if the narrowing of McGonagall’s eyes was anything to go by. Isabella firmly wanted to stay under all the teacher’s radar’s, better to be the quite girl at the back of the class that no-one notices, than the clown who always gets the spotlight.

 

All of the students quickly put their heads back down to continue their work, but what Isabella didn’t realise is the McGonagall kept a keen eye on her as well. The Lestrange girl was vastly different from what she had expected, it made her feel more cautious around the 12-year-old. Those that defied expectations were usually troublesome as well.

 

* * *

 

The next class was double potions with Professor Snape. Isabella was familiar with Snape already, he had visited in Malfoy manor on several occasions and was actually Draco’s god-father. They had never spoken much, but she did have a respect for the man… despite his blood status.

 

Yet again she sat herself at the back of the class directly behind Potter and Weasley, and yet again they didn’t notice her. Maybe she was better a being the quiet girl than she thought, it was as good as casting a notice-me-not charm on herself. If she just stayed quiet and kept her head down no-one payed any attention, which was exactly what she wanted.

 

While they were waiting for Professor Snape to come in the boys were talking between themselves.

 

“Did you see the way he was laughing at us in Transfiguration?!” Ron started, looking rather red in the face. “Merlin! I which I could just knock the smirk off his face”

 

“I don’t get it, what’s his problem?” Harry who knew nothing about blood status and wizarding beliefs had no idea that Ron and his entire family were all blood-traitors, it was almost pitiful.

 

“Who knows?! Probably the way he was raised, to be all pompous. Honestly Harry, he thinks he’s better than everyone and it’s only our first day.” Ron took a breath; her cousin must have done something else to get him so wound up. “I bet that cousin of his is worse as well, I don’t care if she’s in Hufflepuff. They were raised together so they’ll be just the same, only _she’s_ a Lestrange.”

 

She smiled again, but kept quiet, enjoying Weasleys rant. However, what she didn’t expect was for Harry to come to her defence.

 

“I don’t know Ron. Malfoy’s a prat that’s for sure, but Isabella seems nice. She smiled at me this morning when she caught me staring.” He rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed. “She’s in Hufflepuff as well, didn’t you say they were all ‘emotional’ and ‘happy’ all the time. It’s not like she’s done anything to us either.”

 

“Oh Harry, come on mate! Just because she’s pretty doesn’t mean she nice. You know what her parents did.  Psychopaths, the lot of them” Ron lowered his voice to the end of the sentence not wanting anyone to overhear him. Unfortunately for him Isabella had.

 

Before Harry could reply, the classroom door banged open and Snape walked in. His all black robes flowed out behind him as he did an abrupt turn at the front of the class. Silence had descended upon the room as the class leaned away from their potions master; intimidated.

 

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word.  "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

 

Harry had been dutifully taking notes on everything the professor had said, even though he hadn’t begun teaching yet. Unfortunately for him Snape took offence at not having his full attention.

 

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

 

Harry jumped at the sound of his name being shouted. He obviously didn’t know the answer to the question, but Snape didn’t care. Granger however, who had probably memorised all of her text books by now, did know the answer. Her hand shot up nearly hitting Harry in the face, she shook her hand in the air as if it would make Snape ask her instead.

 

“Where Mr. Potter would you look if I asked you to find me a beazle?”

 

“I, I don’t know sir” Harry shook his head, completely lost and embarrassed.

 

“What is the difference between Monkswood and Wolfsbane?”

 

Harry, resigned, shook his head again. “I don’t know sir.” The voice that came out of him was so small Isabella almost felt pity, but she was far too amused by Snapes antics to really care.

 

“Mr. Potter our new celebrity.” Snape drawled condescendingly. “Clearly fame isn’t everything. Maybe someone else could answer my questions?” Granger was practically jumping out of her seat by now, but cruel as Snape was he looked straight past her to Isabella. “Miss. Lestrange?”

 

Obviously, it came as a shock to half the class that she was there, them having not noticed her. Most especially to Ron and Harry who will have by now realised she heard their entire conversation before class. But of course, Snape was always aware of everything around him, and was now taking his turn picking on her instead.

 

“Of course sir.” She answered in a small voice with a smile. “By mixing an infusion of wormwood with powdered root of asphodel you can make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite.” She lowered her head as soon as she finished answering.

 

Snape probably didn’t think she would know the answers and she didn’t want to upset him, so she continued to look down at the desk as Snape moved on.

 

“Today, we will be making a most simple potion. It contains three ingredients, you only need to use one heat and minimal stirring. Let’s hope you’re up to the _challenge.”_ Using a voice that was dripping with sarcasm he proceeded to pair them up, she was with Hermione, Ron was with Neville and Harry was with Draco.

 

The potion was simple and with her know-it-all partner she knew they would be fine. Ron and Neville however, would not. Isabella was not one to let people insult her family (even if they weren’t technically family anymore.)

 

When they were gathering their ingredients, Isabella swapped Neville’s Decollate snail shells for Scutalus ones. She knew enough about potions, to know that the mixture of those ingredients would let out a gas that causes temporary blindness and rather a lot of pain.

 

When she returned to the desk she positioned herself as far away from Ron and Neville as she could. She and Hermione didn’t speak to one another they simply worked in sync and created the perfect potion in under 5 minutes.

 

‘She may be a mud-blood but she knows what she’s doing.’ Isabella thought.

 

Suddenly a thick blue fog started to slowly rise out of Ron’s cauldron, the gas sparkled silver in the candle light and before they knew what was happening, both Ron and Neville had taken a breath of the gas before collapsing on the floor.

 

“PROFESSOR!” Isabella shouted out pointing at the boys. She already got what she wanted, no need to risk injuring herself as well. She wouldn’t have minded if Draco got whiff though after the letter he had sent Lucius last night.

 

Snape immediately vanished the potion and the fog with a flick of his wand. Neville and Ron were rolling on the floor in pain, letting out moans and whimpers. Even Draco looked taken aback.

 

“Granger and Potter take them to the hospital wing immediately! The rest of you label your potions, put them on my desk and then leave!” As he walked past her he spoke lowly. “Not you Lestrange.”

 

The class filed out quickly after that, none of them wanting to face Snapes wrath.

 

“Professor?” Isabella asked after everyone had left.

 

“I do not think it any coincidence, that the only ingredient that could have reacted badly with that potion, was somehow picked up by those two. You are the only person in here except me who had the knowledge to do that. I don’t know why you did it, I don’t care. But you will not do it again. Detention next week. Now leave.”

 

She placed her full labelled potion on the desk next to him and left the classroom silently after that. Snape knew her well enough already that whatever act she put on for everyone else would not work on him, but she risked too much today. Petty revenge wasn’t worth losing everything she now wanted. She needed to implement herself as a spy and gain the trust of those around her or this wouldn’t work. If she couldn’t do that, she’d never get back at the Malfoys, she’d never impress the dark lord and she’d never be as powerful as she needed to be.


	4. Sinking In

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Sinking In_

 

Isabella’s day progressed from there, her next class after lunch was history of magic, where she sat quietly and took notes. The class was far too boring for anything even remotely interesting to happen, the initial shock at having a ghost for a teacher was about as good as it got there. Isabella managed to keep herself entertained by thinking about Ron in the infirmary, he should get his sight back by tomorrow but he was going to be sore for days.

 

As soon as the class ended she was the first one out, she walked quickly to her common room, planning on dropping off her bags and then going for her tea in the hall. When she got there however, she was pulled to the side by one of the ‘perfect’ prefects.

 

“Bella, I’ve bee-“

 

“Isabella” She corrected quickly. “Bella is my mother.” She put on a sad face and looked to the floor as she said it.

 

“Of course, sorry, sorry.” The prefect stumbled over his words at the mention of her mother. “Isabella, I’ve been looking for you, you friend Cedric couldn’t find you this morning and he let me know, so I’m here to make sure that the two of you meet now.” He placed his arm around her shoulders and guided her over a chair and table, there was a boy there sat alone doing his homework.

 

She couldn’t help but notice how comfortable the prefect was around her, he was starting to treat her the same as all the other Hufflepuffs. The rumour mill had probably been running, letting everyone know she wasn’t a manipulative, psychotic little girl out to get them all.

 

Cedric looked up as they approached, and when he saw who it was he immediately stood with a smile on his face. Isabella would have had be fool not to recognise how handsome he was, she couldn’t even help the light colouring that blushed her cheeks. “Hi Bella, I’m Cedric pleasure to meet you.” He held out a hand for her to shake and she took it without hesitation.

 

“H-hi” She didn’t correct him with her name.

 

“Thanks Thomas, I’ve got it from here” Cedric said as he clapped the prefect on the shoulder. The prefect laughed lightly when he looked at Isabella’s face, before walking away to bother someone else.

 

‘How humiliating’ she thought. ‘Maybe this innocent little girl act won’t be so hard if Cedric plans on staying around.’

 

The older boy pulled the chair opposite his out for her before walking back round the table to his own chair.

 

“How weird is this assign a friend thing right?” He laughed straight away. “I couldn’t believe it in my first year when they told me. The girl I was assigned was a seventh year, she always pinched my cheeks and told me how cute I was in my _‘big boys’_ uniform. So trust me, you got lucky.” He winked at her playfully. Isabella blushed again and cursed herself, it was a deplorable way to act. Never before had any boy managed to make her blush like this.

 

‘Get a grip,’ She thought to herself, ‘and stop acting like such a Hufflepuff.’  That must be it, one day was all it took for the damn Hufflepuffs to get her feeling something, even if it was mostly embarrassment.

 

“It’s pretty odd” She agreed with him quietly.

 

“I won’t be like that with you. We can eat together, sit in the common room and do homework together, chat and if you ever need help with anything let me know. I know they said I would walk you to class as well, but I always found that pretty annoying when I was in 1st year so I won’t do that to you either. Sound good?”

 

“Yeah, that sounds good. Less like a babysitter that way.” She smiled at him.

 

So far, Isabella didn’t immediately hate the boy. He was funny and handsome and didn’t act at all like the other Hufflepuff’s around them, his only downside seemed to be her mindboggling reaction to him.

 

“Exactly. So, let’s see what homework you’ve got…

 

* * *

 

 

The week continued on like so. Isabella would go to her classes during the day, escorted only by herself. Cedric would sit with her at meals and then they did their homework together in the evenings, they often spoke with each other as well about anything and everything.

 

It was easier to put up a front around Cedric, because he actually made her feel like the naïve child she was pretending to be. She felt no need to be horrible to him, he was well mannered, amusing, pure-blooded and overall had very few annoying or pitiful traits. Isabella genuinely liked him, probably slightly too much though. One of his new favourite things to do was make her blush as much as possible, and since it made him laugh so much she let him. She didn’t pretend to be shy, that was just how she felt around him anyway.

 

In some ways this reaction proved to be educational, she had started mimicking the way she acted around Cedric when she was with other people. She was now well on her way to making ‘ _friends’_ with some of them. They all thought she was a sweet, shy and soft-spoken person, when in actuality the only reason she didn’t speak too much was because she was too busy insulting them all in her head.

 

Draco has no such reservations, he had been insulting everyone and anyone who wasn’t a teacher or in Slytherin house, including her. Now that she was no longer family she was apparently free game, he had attempted many pranks on her in the past week all of which had failed but she was slowly starting to lose her patience with him. The most annoying thing he had done so far was take credit for the potion’s mishap with Ron and Neville.

 

She supposed that should make her happy, no one even thought to blame her with all the bragging Draco was doing, but still, it was a matter of pride. He got all the attention and she got the detention.

 

Ron and Neville had been released from the infirmary the next day, and every potions lesson since had sat it the table in front of Snape’s desk on his order, he called it the dunderhead table.

 

In terms of making friends with the golden trio not much had happened, Isabella was still practicing how to be nice and how to make friends. She had decided not to make any moves until she felt she was ready. She and Hermione were still paired together in potions which was working well for them both, but that was it.

 

It was currently one week after the potion’s mishap, and the day of her detention with Snape as he had so openly reminded her in class.

 

She and Cedric were currently sat in the great hall eating their tea when an owl dropped a note on Cedric lap. He carefully opened the note and read it to himself first before looking up at her.

 

“Dumbledore wants to see you in his office. We have time to finish this quickly but you’ll have to go see him before your detention. He’s asked me to walk you there.” He smiled as he put his arm over her shoulders, making her blush and him laugh. They quickly finished what was on their plates before getting up and leaving.

 

“Do it say what he wants?” She asked quietly looking up at him.

 

“Nope, sorry.” Cedric smiled down at her. “Don’t worry though, Professor Dumbledore is great, a bit loopy at times but great. Whatever it is you can talk to me about it after if you want to?”

 

“Well, we’ll have to see what it’s about first then won’t we?” She replied cheekily making him smile at her. They reached the end of a corridor and in front of them sat a ginormous Gargoyle statue, after Cedric spoke the password it began to spin upwards revealing a staircase to her.

 

“It’s just up the stairs, don’t worry. I’ll see you if the common room later?” He asked

 

“That depends on how long Snape leaves me locked in his broom cupboard” She laughed.

 

He squeezed her shoulder as he walked past her, going back the direction they came laughing as he went. She ascended the stairs as soon as he was out of sight and knocked on the door at the top.

 

“Come in, child. Come in.” Dumbledore was sat behind his desk petting a phoenix.

 

Isabella couldn’t help but be a little awed by the creature, they were so rare she had never even seen one before. Obviously, she didn’t let this show on her face, but somehow Dumbledore seemed to know what she was thinking anyway.

 

“This is Fawkes, my very loyal companion. You’ve caught him on a good day today, he’s almost full grown right now.” Dumbledore said wistfully. “Unfortunately, Miss Lestrange todays chat holds less cheerful topics.”

 

He gestured for her to sit in the chair across from him. Isabella was fairly certain she already knew what he wanted to talk about, Lucius had told her that Dumbledore would be speaking to her soon. This wasn’t what made Isabella feel uneasy though, it seems Dumbledore has exceptional skills at reading people. She shouldn’t have expected any less but it was still unnerving.

 

“Would you like some tea before we start?” He offered. “Or maybe some sweets? I’m rather partial to a muggle sweet I have recently discovered, they’re called Sherbet Lemons.” She declined both offers but couldn’t help the minute twitch her eye gave at the mention of muggle sweets. She was certain he had noticed as well.

 

“Is this about me being disowned Professor?” She asked politely, if not with a little trepidation.

 

“Ah… I assume Mr. Malfoy has already informed you. These are rather appalling circumstances if I may say so Isabella, what is being done to you is truly an atrocious act, based on a law so out-dated I can’t believe it’s still enforced. However, I must say you seem to be dealing with it amicably.” Dumbledore seemed to be genuinely aggrieved at what had transpired.

 

“If I may speak plainly sir. The loss of the Malfoy and Lestrange families has been less grievous for me than you may imagine, the loss of people like that is something that makes me happy. I simply do not share their… ah… beliefs I suppose, and my upbringing was not quite what I think it should have been. To not have such negativity or ignorance in my life anymore would be a relief.” Isabella put all she had into that act, she needed Dumbledore to trust her, or at least not to dis-trust her. “I have thought about it since I received the news, and each day it has bothered me less and less. I don’t care about losing the money, as long as I’m free from that lifestyle. Does that make any sense?”

 

Dumbledore’s eyes held a twinkle in them that she wasn’t sure she quite trusted. “Of course, my dear I am aware of how the Malfoys conduct themselves. They are very similar to most other pureblood families. I must admit that it is shocking however, that you have turned out so differently. You _appear_ to be almost the opposite of your cousin, strange wouldn’t you agree?”

 

He knew. He knew she was pretending she was sure of it.

 

“Yes. I suppose it is, but I’m glad for it sir. That’s why the hat put me in Hufflepuff after all.” She smiled sweetly at him. “Is there any news about where I will be staying during the summer time?”

 

He looked over his glasses assessing her for a few second before replying. She wasn’t giving in, he couldn’t prove she wasn’t who she said she was as long as she didn’t break cover.

 

“Yes, a small wizarding orphanage has a place you.” She looked down at the word orphanage, no acting necessary. The word had genuinely upset her, the situation was starting to become more and more real to her the more she spoke about it. She would never live with the Malfoys again. “They are based in Diagon ally and are very well respected. All of the other children there are much younger than yourself though, I believe the eldest is 5 years.”

 

She only nodded her head, unable to speak past the rapidly forming lump in her throat. She was going to be living in an Orphanage.

 

‘Grow up,’ she thought to herself, ‘don’t cry for people when you know definitely won’t be crying for you.’

 

“That’s all I have been told however. We can assume that the ministry will fund you’re schooling, and I do believe the Malfoy family will have needed to set aside a substantial amount of money for you when they… gave you up. It’s a fine of sorts that the ministry implements. So, you are not entirely lost my dear, there is always hope.”

 

He smiled at her again, despite her suspicion of him Dumbledore seemed genuinely upset at her situation. His smile held nothing but sympathy and kindness, it was only the look in his eyes that made her nervous.

 

Their conversation ended shortly afterwards and Isabella all but fled the office at the first opportunity. As soon as she reached the bottom of the staircase, she began walking towards Snape’s classroom.

 

Her mind was running wild with different words and phrases that Dumbledore had used. She knew the brutality of the situation would eventually sink in, she had just hoped it would be in the privacy of her own dorm. The lump in her throat was not going away, and no matter how much she tried she could not get a hold of her emotions.

 

She quickly darted down an abandoned corridor before stopping and leaning against the wall. She was being sent to an orphanage in diagon ally after being disowned by her primary _and_ secondary family together. She had no title and the only money she possessed was a fine that the Malfoys had to pay when they got rid of her.

 

A small sob left her mouth as the emotions finally overwhelmed her, it seems the situation had finally sunk in.


	5. Elbow Grease

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Elbow Grease_

Isabella stayed there for as long as possible trying to gather herself as well as she could. The situation that she was in was too foreign for her to contemplate, but a few words from Dumbledore has just laid the whole thing out in front of her. There is no way to deny or ignore an issue when it has been so blatantly put before you. No matter how mean or unfriendly she was, this situation was nothing short of devastating, and she didn’t think she was over-reacting when she imagined her whole world actually falling apart at the seams.

 

She should be in Slytherin house right now, she should be making jokes at the expense of other people right alongside her cousin, but instead, instead she was alone. The only person she had made a connection with was an ‘ _assigned friend.’_ She was well and truly pathetic, and now here she was crying in the middle of a corridor for anyone to see.

 

Maybe there was a Hufflepuff club for things like this, she was going to go to the common room and someone would let her know she had been admitted into the self-pity part. She had succeeded in their rite of passage by booing like a child in a deserted corner of the castle.

 

At least her pessimistic thought process brought a semblance of a smile onto her face. She would allow herself this, one time where she could cry and release all the pent-up emotions. Afterwards she would simply need to accept her situation, move on, and in the future get back at those who were hurting her right now; because she was. She was _hurting._

 

Unfortunately for her the pity-party didn’t last very long, she soon heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. She wiped her face, stood straight and turned in the direction of the sound. Three students suddenly came hurtling around the corner and immediately collided with her, they all fell to the floor upon impact. Isabella had the wind knocked out of her as she looked up at the ceiling, she could hear the groaning of the other students who had obviously experienced the same as her.

 

After a minute or so there was a hand pulling her up from the ground. Unexpectedly, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all stood before her, they were breathing hard and looked panicked.

 

“Our bad Lestrange!” Shouted Ron as he went to run past her, he was quickly followed by Hermione who muttered a small apology as she went to catch up with him. Harry however stayed behind.

 

“Isabella I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to run into you. Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I? Oh god, you don’t look okay. Are you crying? We were just trying to get away, I didn’t think there would be anyone in the corridor at this time.” He went on and on, speaking so fast Isabella was surprised she even managed to catch a word of what he was saying. In all honesty she was still a little shocked at the fall, she wasn’t quite sure what was going on and couldn’t even think of a response to his questions. Damn him for catching her in such a vulnerable state!

 

“Harry! Mate we’ve _got_ to go!” Ron shouted from the end of the corridor.

 

“ _Are_ you okay?” He asked looking at her closely. She had been stood crying for almost 20 minutes, she was absolutely not okay, and she probably looked worse.

 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” She said nodding at him before looking down.

 

“I’m sorry.” He said softly, he was truly sorry but she could only give him a small smile.

 

“Harry!” Ron’s voice was slowly becoming higher in pitch the more he shouted, it would have nothing short of comical in any other situation.

 

Harry ran off in the direction of Ron and Hermione, but did look back at her blushing before he disappeared around the corner. As embarrassing as it was, Isabella acknowledged that this situation could only be beneficial to her, as long as she could look past her wounded pride. That and crawl out of this pit of self-pity she had found herself in.

 

_Shit._

 

Detention with Snape.

 

She was almost definitely late by now. Maybe she had some time to spare, she had cut her meeting with Dumbledore short when she got upset, so if she ran she could make it on time. She took off straight away in the opposite direction of the trio. Running at full speed she passed paintings that were shouting at her to slow down, and the ghosts that flattened themselves to the wall as she went past despite the fact that she would only go through them. She arrived at the classroom in record time.

 

She stopped at the door, collected herself and evened out her breathing. Only when she felt ready did she knock.

 

“Enter.” He didn’t sound happy.

 

She walked into the room with her head held high, her pride couldn’t take too much more tonight.

 

“Cutting in close Lestrange.” He said sharply. He was marking some students essays on his desk, and didn’t even look up as she walked in. He pointed to a corner of the classroom as he continued reading, when she looked over there was a large pile of dirty cauldrons. “Clean them by hand, you many leave only when you have finished.”

 

She sighed and walked over the pile, there must have been at least 30. She had never seen cauldrons get so dirty in her life, she swears he must have gotten them as dirty as he could before she arrived. She rolled up her sleeves grabbed a scrubber and filled a bucket for of steaming water before getting down to it.

 

As she worked she thought, not about the conversation she had with Dumbledore, but about the trio that had just tackled her to the floor. What on earth were they up to? If ever there were a time to befriend them now would be it, and they had presented her with the perfect opportunity. If she now tried to talk to them about what happened, it wouldn’t look even remotely odd, they had already involved her by letting her catch them off guard. It’s not like Harry would object anyway by the look of it. Well that and she was now desperate to know what they were doing, she hated other people having one up on her.

 

Soon, she decided, she would make her move soon.

 

The time went exceptionally slowly, she continued to check the old clock that Snape had hung in the corner of the room, feeling the hope draining out of her every time she saw only 5 minutes had passed. This was the most boring and infuriating work he could have asked of her, no matter how much she scrubbed the dirt just wouldn’t come off, he must have cast some sort of charm on the dirt the heartless bastard. The more she tried the more she her anger starting to rise to the surface, she had already had a bad night she didn’t need Snape torturing her to make it any worse.

 

Just as she was about to say something there was a knock on the door. Snape looked up for the first time in the entire time she had been there, she checked the clock, an entire 2 hours.

 

“Enter.” He commanded in much the same tone as he had used before with her. This time however it was not a student that walked through the door with apprehension, it was professor Quirrell, and damn if he didn’t look more scared of professor Snape than most students.

 

“S-S-S-Severus, I had h-hoped that-t-t we might s-s-speak.” It seemed that being in the presence of Snape of made that stutter of his worse. Isabella knew Quirrell from her Defence Against the Dark Arts class but they had never really spoken, she had caught him staring on occasion but knew that it was just because of her name that he offered any interest at all.

 

“Not now Quirinus.” Snape sounded beyond annoyed at his interruption. “As you can see I am rather busy at the present, maybe later.” He had gestured at Isabella who was stood at the back of the class.

 

“Oh.” He looked shocked at the sight of her, not having seen her when he had come in. She must have looked a riot though, at some point she had pushed her sleeves up to her elbows, she knew she had hair falling out of her once neat ponytail and her expression was nothing short of murderous when she looked at Snape. She offered a small insincere smile and her professor before returning to her work.

 

“O-of course.” As he walked past to leave the room he muttered something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch, but it was said far too softly for Snape to hear. She did however feel the run of the magic through the water and hear the cauldrons quietly shudder behind her.

 

Experimentally, she lightly rubbed the caldron that was currently in her hands. The dirt melted away immediately, and the entire thing was clean in 30 seconds, and probably was cleaner than it had ever been before. She smiled genuinely and started on the rest of the pile. Within 10 minutes the entire pile had been scrubbed clean and even sparkled a little in the light.

 

“Professor? I’m finished, may I leave?” She said innocently

 

Snape looked up with a biting retort on his lips, but when he saw the pile of cauldrons he immediately closed his mouth. The sourest expression that she had even seen was now on his face, he glared at her for several seconds without saying a word.

 

“Leave. Now.”

 

She quickly turned and escaped through the door before Snape changed his mind and brought another dozen cauldrons for her to clean. Even as she left she didn’t let the smile leave her face very satisfied with how here detention had ended, she wasn’t sure why Quirrell had helped her but she was happy he did.  In fact, Quirrell was now in the running for her new favourite teacher, she just wasn’t sure what his ulterior motive was, if he even had one.

 

She navigated the hall and made her way back to the common room quickly, she was sure it was after hours by now and didn’t want to be caught by any prefects. She didn’t care about losing points but it wouldn’t help her with making friends and mainly, it was nothing short of a nuisance.

 

There was barely anyone left in the common room at this point, it was almost 10 ‘o’ clock so she wasn’t surprised. Cedric however had waited up for her to return but ended up falling asleep on one of the large armchairs, she walked over to where he was sat and couldn’t deny the fondness that grew in her chest at the sight of him. Earlier she had though that she couldn’t think of anything bad about Cedric, but maybe there was one thing. She wasn’t actually supposed to be getting attached to anyone even as a friend, never mind having an interest in more. That was a bad thing. The only bad thing.

 

She gently shook his shoulder to wake him up. It took a while but he eventually came to and looked around sleepily, confused with his surroundings, clearly it wasn’t common practice for him to fall asleep in the common room.

 

“Hey, you fell asleep.” She said to him in a whisper.

 

“Eugh, what time is it?” He whispered back looking around himself, trying to find a clock somewhere.

 

“10,” she sighed “I just got back, Snape had me cleaning cauldrons for nearly 3 hours. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow though, you need to get some sleep.”

 

“That’s cruelty, and what about your homework?” Typical that he would be thinking about her homework over his obvious need for sleep. It would have been pathetic if she saw anyone else doing this, but with him... it was sweet. Which in turn made her the pathetic one.

 

“I can catch up tomorrow.” She had to interrupt her own internal ramblings.

 

“Okay, you’ll tell me about you’re meeting as well?”

 

She hesitated before replying. Should she tell him? Not really. Would she?

 

“Of course, I will.”


	6. Tears and Trolls

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Tears and Trolls_

 

Isabella was up bright and early the next day, she managed to walk through the common room and all the way down to the great hall without seeing a single other student. Saturdays were always a lazy day for everyone, most students didn’t even make it to breakfast and today would be no different. There wasn’t a single other student in the hall, and only Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore at the head table, who both smiled at her as she came in.

 

She set herself up on the Hufflepuff table. Her breakfast to one side of her, and all her books parchment and quills on the other side, time to catch up on the homework she was supposed to do yesterday. She had at least one essay to write for every class she had, and since knew she wouldn’t be seeing Cedric for a while after how worn out he looked last night, she may as well get a head start.

 

The first essay she looked at was potions, it was going to be the most difficult so it was undoubtedly best to get it out of the way earliest. She put her head down and started on her work, occasionally nibbling on a bit of her breakfast as she wrote. She was soon immersed in her task and didn’t even notice as students from all houses came and went, she didn’t notice Draco making loud jokes about her and getting more and more frustrated when she didn’t react, she didn’t notice Harry staring at her from his table while he ate and she didn’t see him struggle with indecision about coming to talk to her.

 

Most students would be doing their homework in the library or even in their common room, but Isabella liked the noise in the great hall, as irrational as it seemed, it helped her to concentrate. Soon enough the food disappeared from the tables and she was left alone in the hall again, all the other students had left to enjoy their weekend. She didn’t mind it, secure in the knowledge that they would all regret it come Monday when they hadn’t done any of their essays, then were all serving detention on Friday night. Her one experience with that was enough to make her not want to do it again, which she supposed was the point.

 

She sat quietly for hours, moving from one essay to the next using her textbooks as reference when she needed to. She felt calm, for the first time in a long time, sitting in silence and just getting her work done. She didn’t need to speak to anyone and pretend to be someone she wasn’t, no matter how easy it was getting, sometimes she just wanted to take out her wand and hex someone into oblivion, knowing that she couldn’t was vexing. The act came naturally now, she didn’t need to think about it anymore, nice and quiet, that was who she was to everyone, people didn’t stare excessively anymore either. It was getting simpler, but sometimes she thought, she was going to have to keep this performance up for _years._ What kind of effect would that have on her in the long run?

 

‘Whatever happens, happens.’ She said to herself. ‘No point getting worked up over things that haven’t even come about yet.’

 

A sudden, loud bang at the teachers table, disturbed her work. She jumped in her seat, and only by some miracle managed not to smudge or spill ink on her nearly completed pile of essays.

 

“Ohhhhh, lookie lookie ickle firstie.” It was Peeves, up until now Isabella had been in luck and had yet to deal with the ridiculous poltergeist, it seems that her luck had run out. Peeves was the poltergeist of Hogwarts, he essentially bullied all of the students by forcing his pranks on them, getting them into trouble or just being plain cruel. It was usually entertaining as long as you weren’t his intended target.

 

“How long will it take, for me to make, the Hufflepuff break?” He asked her in rhyme while looking at her pile of essays out the corner of his eyes. She placed her hand firmly on top of the pile, and she would be damned if he would wreck them. She would not let a poltergeist push her around, Hufflepuff or not.

 

“Oh, _fuck off_ Peeves and go bother someone else! I’m not going to put up with your shit so don’t even try it.” She exploded at him, if he dared ruin her essays she would find a way to hurt him, regardless of her cover.

 

The initial shock of her words must have been what stopped him in his tracks, but the warning in her eyes is what made him freeze.

 

“Oooh. Meanie firstie wants a fighty.” he mocked her, and she didn’t even bother to respond. He was a bully, and bullies just wanted to get a reaction out of someone, she would know having done her fair share of baiting in her life.

 

She kept one had firmly on top of her essays so he couldn’t get to them and kept firm eye-contact with him. She knew of ways to hurt poltergeists even if they weren’t actually alive, she had read about many things in her Uncle’s library and she knew some serious spells that would really do some damage.

 

After a while of staring each other out, he didn’t look like he was going to give in at any point. She realised that the only way to make him stop would be to counter-threaten, so she said the spell aloud.

 

 _"_ _A_ _rdeat_ _E_ _xspiravit_ _."_ She didn't put any magic behind the words to cast the spell, the words were all she needed as long as he knew what they meant. "If you dare, I will too." It had been too long since she let even a hint of her true personality out, it felt nothing short of amazing, and it didn't really matter since it was only Peeves.

 

The look on his face was beyond shocked, he obviously knew the spell, thank Merlin since that's what she was counting on. It took him a few seconds to work out what to do, should he run? Should he grovel? Should he just destroy her essays anyway? No, he certainly didn't want to risk that.

 

"Clever firstie, you win. Peeves wouldn't, peeves would never, not to you." He said in a bright sing-song voice and was suddenly kneeling at her feet with a sweet smile on his face. All of a sudden Isabella got the feeling of looking into a mirror, he was acting the same way she had been these last few weeks. Pretending to be nice to get away with being horrible.

 

"Peeves will be nice to Miss. Lestrange. You ask. Peeves does." She would never sink so low as to grovel on her knees, or promise to do the will of any witch or wizard who happened to be around. But she did see some of her situation reflected back at her in that moment.

 

"Thank-you Peeves, that's enough. I'll let you know if I ever need your help." Isabella said pleasantly, "Now go bother Snape, he needs a taste of his own medicine, don't you agree?" Peeves's face lit up at the request, he was up and out the door before she could even blink. A small mischievous smile lit up her face, that was petty of her.

 

The sound of clapping drew her attention to the Gryffindor table.

 

The Weasley twins had walked in at some point, she hoped they hadn't heard her threatening him with the spell. Even if they had they didn't seem to be even slightly bothered by it though, they had massive identical smiles on their faces as they applauded. She immediately adopted a shocked facial expression, trying her hardest to look like a deer in headlights, as the muggle saying went.

 

"That was brilliant," one of them said.

 

"Superb." The other added.

 

They both got up and came to sit next to her on the benches.

 

"What was that spell?" They asked in unison. _Shit._

 

"Well- That's- I shouldn't have even said it." She tried to put them off asking but they still looked at her intently wanting to know what she had threatened Peeves with. She took a deep breath, "I read it one in one of Mr. Malfoy's books, I don't think it's dark but it certainly isn't very nice." She whispered looking down at her hands, she forced tears to gather in her eyes but didn't have the balls to let them slip down her face.

 

"Hey, that's okay. You only said it to defend yourself," one of the twins said panicked at the prospect of making her cry.

 

"yeah, who know what he would have done. You've been working on those essays all day, you didn't do anything wrong." the other finished.

 

"I suppose… But that still wasn't very nice of me." She was particularly proud of this act. The twins were already wrapped around her finger.

 

"He deserved it!" They both said together passionately, not letting her argue back.

 

They spent the rest of the morning alternating between distracting and helping her with the remaining homework, by lunch she was all done and had a relatively pleasant morning with them. They were funny, even by her standards, if only a little annoying, additionally they were already wrapped around her little finger. She was fairly certain at this point, if she said jump, they wouldn't even need to ask how high they would be useful when it came to being friendly with Harry as well since they already had a good relationship with him.

 

At lunch they left her to go and sit at Gryffindor table and Cedric joined her instead. She and Cedric spent the rest of the weekend together, improving their homework and having fun. She told him everything that had happened with her _'family'_ and everything Dumbledore said would happen now. Fortunately, the tears she shed this time were entirely fake, and the whole situation only seemed to make Cedric more protective of her.

* * *

 

On Monday classes resumed again.

 

She sat at the back in all of her classes as per usual, what struck her as particularly unusual was Harry, and by extension Ron, also sitting at the back with her. They said hello to one another, a touch shyly on both parts, but only one genuinely felt that way. There were no other words spoken throughout the class, but that didn’t stop Harry from staring at her out the corner of his eye every opportunity he got; Ron could barely contain his laughter whenever he caught Harry pining.

 

Harry had obviously intended to sit next to her in potions as well, but unfortunately for him Snape had other plans.

 

“Today’s pairs will be: Longbottom and Granger, Weasley and Lestrange, Zabini and Crabbe, Abbott and Parkinson, Potter and Malfoy…” He went on but no-one except Neville seemed to be happy with their pairing, Isabella honestly thought that she and Ron had the best shot in the class for creating a half decent potion.

 

They sat in their pairs and started on the potion. Isabella mainly had Ron sit and do nothing while she made an immaculate brew; which he was more than happy to do. Hermione seemed to take on a similar strategy but Neville was not as good at taking instruction, he continued to touch the ingredients out of nervousness every time Snape looked at him. Draco and Harry were mainly bickering between themselves.

 

“Hey Lestrange, why don’t you got partner with Malfoy and then me and Harry can do the potion together? I mean you are family, it makes sense.” Ron asked loudly, letting half the class hear his obnoxious question.

 

“I’d rather not.”

 

“Absolutely not!”

 

They had replied in unison, Draco outraged at the prospect of being with his cousin, “She is not part of my family anymore.” He continued nastily.

 

There was silence in the room for all of three seconds before every-one returned to their work, this time focusing less on the potion and more on what Draco said. Draco and Harry also returned to their potion but this time in silence.

 

Ron in particular was interested in the topic at hand, and as a result started trying the _‘help’_ brew the potion. His idea of helping was entirely counter-productive.

 

 “What did he mean by that then?” He asked, about subtle as a brick through a window.

 

“That’s kind of personal Weasley, sorry. I don’t really know you that well either.” She said quietly, hoping in vain that he would leave it at that.

 

“Everyone will find out anyway, so you might as well tell your side.” _This_ was how Gryffindor manipulated people, it was an appalling effort.

 

“I guess so. If I tell you that though… would you tell me what you were running from the other night? When you knocked me down.” She tried, spoken in a quiet voice without looking up from the potion.

 

There was a moment of hesitation while Ron tried to think up what to say.

 

“Fine, but you go first.”

 

She winced, she knew that she would tell him and then he would either not tell her or lie about what happened. Yet again, he was right for once, by the end of the day everyone will have heard Draco’s side of thing so she might as well tell him anyway.

 

“My family law states that any child _not_ sorted into Slytherin, will immediately be disowned and lose all their rights to the title, property and wealth of the Lestrange family. The only thing I have in common with those people now is my name. The Malfoy family also renounced the guardianship they had over me, so I’m not related to them anymore either. Of course, this is all only on paper, there is nothing they can do about the blood we share, unless they did a blood ritual that is, but that’s highly illegal dark magic so I doubt it.” She shrugged her shoulder after finishing.

 

“Wow.” Ron was shocked unsurprisingly, in the wizarding world the only time kids didn’t have family is when all their family died. No-one was disowned. “I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s fine, I’d rather not be associated with those people anyway. So, what were you running from?”

 

“Filch.” It appeared as if he was going to leave it at that but after seeing her incredulous look he expanded. “We accidentally ended up on the third-floor corridor when the stairways moved, Flich nearly caught us so we ran away. Which is when we bumped into you”

 

“But Dumbledore said to avoid the third-floor unless you wanted to _‘experience a terrible death.’_ What else was there? Other that Filch?” Of course he would try to get off easy, couldn’t expect much better than that off a blood traitor.

 

“Look, I told you what happened, and if that isn’t exciting enough for you. Then that’s not my problem….” Ron continued to chatter nervously as he was caught in his lie, unfortunately he also started to grab potions ingredients randomly, and before she could stop him he threw the final ingredient in _way_ too early. She only just had enough time to grab her wand and cast a shield around the cauldron before it exploded, a large boom filled the room but the explosive solution was, thankfully, contained within the shield. The table beneath the cauldron had a large hole in it and what was left of the metal dropped to the floor with a clang.

 

“Lestrange! Detention for not keeping Mr. Weasley on track.” Snape said as he vanished the warped cauldron and fixed the table. “You have both failed today’s work. Sit in silence for the rest of the lesson.”

 

Unbelievable.  Snape gave her a detention because of Weasley’s mistake and he knew it. Furious, she spent the rest of the lesson in silence, not even replying to Ron’s half assed apologies.

 

* * *

 

As it was, it turned out that her next detention with Snape was going to be a rather special one, so would be put off until he said otherwise, and that’s all she was told. She spent the next few weeks on best behaviour in the hopes of no more detentions, not just with Snape but with any of the teachers. Every dinnertime she expected Snape to come up to her having finally decided what punishment would be fit. She envisioned him dragging her out to some hidden torture chamber in the dungeons, where she would be kept in misery for the rest of her life. The respect she initially had for the man was completely non-existent at this point, but her imagination seemed to be soaring.

 

She was currently having her dinner in the hall next to Cedric. Since the news got out about her disownment, she was yet again at the receiving end of endless stares and attention. This time though most of them were full of pity, people had started to be more delicate with her (including the teachers) it was as though she were made of glass. It was maddening.

 

Several times she had almost hexed students who were being overly kind to her, before removing herself from the situation and taking deep breaths. On the positive side, people weren’t scared of her any more, meaning they were more than happy to speak to her and she was making more friends by the day. The Weasley twins continued to sit at speak with her when granted the opportunity, they had even pranked Ron when they heard about what happened in the potions class. He was still walking around with blue and green stripped hair, but it was a poor retribution in her opinion, not that she told the twins that. In their mind she thought they were excellent.

 

The stares in the hall were starting to get to her, no matter how much Cedric glared back people just wouldn’t stop. It was the Halloween feast and people were in high spirits, but Isabella wanted nothing more than to leave and have some space to herself. She finished what was on her plate and stood.

 

“I’m going to go back to the common room” She whispered to Cedric as she scooted past him.

 

“Alright sweet, I’ll stash some dessert and bring it to you if you want?” he whispered back understandingly. As per usual she blushed at the endearment but nodded her head to the dessert offer.

 

On her way to the common room she stopped at in the girl’s toilet to splash her face, when she was in there though she heard a girl crying from one of the stalls. She walked over to the stall the noise was coming from and gently opened the door, inside a familiar head of bushy hair was bent forwards.

 

“Hermione?” She asked gently, “are you okay?”

 

The girl looked up at her with tear tracks running down her face. Obviously not okay. Isabella was at a complete loss when it came to comforting people, but if she could find out more about the third-floor corridor it might be worth the effort. The riddle of what was there hadn’t left her head for weeks, it was almost as infuriating as guessing what her detention was going to be.

 

“Can I do anything to help?” She asked hesitantly.

 

“I’m not really in the mood to talk right now Isabella, sorry.”

 

Isabella nodded her head in understanding. She went over to the sink and emptied out her pockets, she found an empty ink pot in one of them and didn’t hesitate to transfigure it into a glass, which she then filled with water. She took the glass over to Hermione with a handful of tissues, and the girl accepted without a word.

 

Isabella refused to give up so easily, she took off her cloak and laid it on the floor before sitting on it and reclining back against the wall. She didn’t say anything to the mudblood girl, she just sat there. For ages.

 

She was just about to get up and leave when Hermione finally calmed down enough to leave the stall. She walked over to the sink and washed her face with the cool water.

 

“Thank-you Isabella, you’re a good friend.”

 

Friend. A victorious smile spread across the Hufflepuff’s face, she had won, finally. She was just about to press the girl for information about the third-floor when an awful stench started to fill the room.

 

“Merlin, what’s that smell?!” She said instead, Hermione look taken aback until she got a whiff of it as well, her face scrunching up in disgust. Before they could question it further, a humongous mountain troll appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, carrying a large club in his hand.

 

Well shit!


	7. Entirely Unpleasant

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Entirely Unpleasant_

 

 

They had only a split second to react before the hideous troll lifted its club and brought it crashing down, the place where they had stood only seconds before now had a large crater in the floor. Isabella stared at the space in shock as stone debris from the collision came flying at her.

 

Hermione had run into one of the stalls again whereas Isabella had leaped in the other direction towards the sinks. Some of the stone debris had hit Isabella as she dived away from the club, she could feel several places stinging with small cuts, and a large piece of stone had managed to impact her side taking the breath out of her.

 

“Bella!” Hermione screamed, she had been protected by the door of the stall and managed to remain unharmed during the troll’s display, ‘ _fucking typical’_ she thought to herself.

 

Alas, the troll began to focus in on her, it lifted its heavy club yet again and tried to bring it down on where she was laying. She barely succeeded in rolling out of the way, before she felt the club touch down a hair's breadth away from her back. She groaned in pain as more rock imbedded itself into her back, but still thanked Merlin for not letting the troll hit her.

 

The club was easily the same height and width as she was, she would hate to think of the damage it would have caused.

 

Thankfully, Hermione’s scream drew the troll’s attention away from Isabella. It turned away and in one swing demolished the wooden toilet stalls, unfortunately Hermione didn’t seem to take any damage, much to Isabella infuriation.

 

This was all the mudblood’s fault. If she hadn’t been booing like a child Isabella would already be in her common room happily doing her homework, not rolling around on a _filthy_ bathroom floor in pain. She could feel her shirt sticking to her body where blood had started to spill.

 

She hoped the troll got at least one good hit on the mudblood, just a little something to make her feel better. She knew that it was likely to kill them both, regardless of how stupid the thing was, but she couldn’t help the thoughts that filled her head.

 

The lumbering beast was now cornering Hermione in one of the stalls and Isabella was confused as to whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that Harry and Ron decided to come in at that moment. At a later date she would blame the indecisiveness on the blood loss.

 

“Hermione, move!” Harry shouted.

 

The two boys ran over to the rubble at the entrance of the bathroom, picking up pieces, they started to throw them at the hideous troll. Isabella dragged herself beneath the sinks but couldn’t move any further with the unbearable pain she felt in her side, at least she was safe here where the troll couldn’t see her.

 

“Oi, pea brain!” Ron yelled, one of the rocks he threw managed to hit the troll on the head as he spoke. The momentary distraction was all Hermione needed to crawl over to the sink next to where Isabella was slowly losing consciousness, a hand was placed on one of the bigger cuts on her back trying to stop the bleeding. The troll had promptly moved to attack them again at the movement, leaving Isabella wishing the mudblood had just left her alone.

 

When the sink smashed over her body she didn’t have the strength to move away, she just covered her head and tried to ignore the newer pain in her shoulder. The noise in the room was starting to ebb away and black shadows were covering her vision, unable to keep track of what was taking place, she just closed her eyes and waited. She had the vague sensation of the floor shaking beneath her and only a few minutes later she felt herself being turned onto her back, above her was Professor Snape who was wearing an expression that she had never seen before. It almost looked like concern.

 

As her sight was fading in and out, she felt herself being levitated into the air. Each time her eyes opened she saw a different ceilings from different hallways and corridors, she saw Quirrell walking beside her and thought she heard McGonagall’s voice. She didn’t recognise the room she was laid down in, but she did know Madame Promfrey who was now standing over her with a potion in hand. The liquid was given to her forcefully after she refused to swallow, as if she would drink an unknown substance freely, and the world started to fade away as she passed out.

 

* * *

 

At some point during the night she regained consciousness, she felt was deep aching pain moving down her left side and in her left shoulder. Someone had wrapped her ribs up with tight bandages which had a vague red tint to them, her arm had been put in a sling but felt as though it had been stuck to her side with a spell. She absolutely could not move her left shoulder, whatever they had done to it.

 

She slowly opened her eyes and a quick survey of her surrounding told her she was in the infirmary, she could see her blood-stained shirt on the table next to the bed, along with various other medicines and bandages. She couldn’t see anyone around but she knew she had been woken up by someone speaking, listening closely she heard someone speaking just outside the infirmary entrance.

 

She slowly lifted herself off the bed that she had been placed on, and quietly limped her way over to the door. She occasionally leant on the wall and various pieces of furniture on her way, her body still weak from the attack. She noticed that no-one else was in the infirmary with her, meaning the other three had managed to get away with superficial wounds, the insufferable bastards. It was probably a combination of the attack, the lack of sleep and her annoyance at her slow progress across the room that had put her in such an appalling temper. When she _finally_ made to the entrance, she could hear the voice clearer and began to rudely eavesdrop on the conversation.

 

“I’m sorry master, I should have kept a closer eye on the girl.” A trembling voice spoke.

 

There was no definite reply to the words, but Isabella could have sworn she heard some sort of muffled hissing noise in response to the man. She was leaning on the wall next to the doorway listening in keenly, she had started to slowly peak her head around the corner, when the voice replied.

 

“Master please, no!” The man was still whispering but the tone of his voice had gained a panicked quality to it. “I promise, I won’t fail you again master! She won’t be harmed again.” He swore to himself, after he finished speaking the same hissing noise started once again. What on earth was going on?

 

Isabella could now see that it was Quirrell stood in the hallway, but he was most definitely stood alone, so who on earth was he talking to? And why was he calling them master? It was a very bizarre situation to say the least, and she was certain they were talking about her, a moment of doubt started to cloud her thoughts. Maybe the medication Snape and Promfrey gave her was making her hallucinate, or have some sort of nonsense dream.

 

Even if she couldn’t understand the hissing Quirrell clearly did, and he looked terrified at what was said, it mustn’t have been good news. He shook his head in despair and turned so Isabella could no longer see his face, just the back of his turban. She ducked back behind the door frame when silence suddenly filled the corridor and held her breath hoping that Quirrell wouldn’t hear her. The hissing noise resumed again as soon as she was out of sight, but was quickly replaced with loud footsteps as the Professor stormed down the corridor and back into the infirmary.

 

Before he rounded the corner she barely even had the time to think of going back to her bed. It was a fruitless thought though, he somehow knew that she was hiding and immediately caught her spying on him.

 

“Sorry Professor.” She whispered fearfully, genuinely this time. If Quirrell was in the habit of talking to an invisible ‘master’ at random points in the night, he might actually be insane. “I just heard voices.” She didn’t realise the humour in what she had said until it was out of her mouth. She looked down to her feet, hoping to look contrite and she hid a malicious smile from the man.

 

“It’s fine Bella, but you need to rest now.” he spoke to gently as he guided her back to the bed she had been allocated. He obviously missed the accidental joke she made or went out of his way to ignore it, he simply allowed her to lean on him as he walked her across the room.

 

“It’s not Bella.” She snapped, she wished people would stop calling her that. “That’s what they call my mother.”

 

“ _Oh_ , of course it was.” He said thoughtfully, looking slightly surprised at himself. He took a vial of potion off the bedside table pulling the cork out the top, as she got underneath the covers again.

 

‘Of course it was?’ She thought, how on earth would _he_ know what they called her mother?

 

“Just go to sleep, you need to recover” he handed her the vial and she smelled the fumes coming out of it. Dreamless Sleep. She figured it would be okay to take now, Quirrell was a teacher and couldn’t do her any harm, even if he was insane. She downed it in one so she wouldn’t have to deal with the taste.

 

“Who were you talking to?” She asked before the potion took her.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He replied with a dark chuckle.

 

She frowned, feeling the potion start to work. She quickly asked another question that had been bothering her.

 

“Where is your stutter?”

 

He laughed aloud this time, “Wouldn’t you like to know Isa.” he repeated.

 

She didn’t have a chance to reply as sleep took her again.

 

* * *

 

The next two weeks were the most boring of her life.

 

When she woke up the day after Quirrell’s episode, the first person she saw was Snape, who was sitting quietly at her bedside with a book in hand. As soon as she woke up he immediately got up to go and get Madame Promfrey from her office where she was sleeping.

 

Apparently, the Professors had taken it in turns to keep watch on her during the night, due to the severity of her injuries. At least that explained why Quirrell had been lurking around.

 

She was promptly informed that she had broken 6 ribs in her left side, cracked 2 others and that one of the ribs had punctured her lung. Promfrey told her that after she had been coughing up blood in her sleep, they were scared she wouldn’t survive, hence the night shifts for the Professors.

 

She had also shattered her left shoulder and partially damaged the joint beneath it, which is why they had spelled her arm not to move. Other than that, it was cuts and bruises, with the exception of one large laceration on her back and another going across her collarbone to the base of her neck. Which she was informed, was another life-threatening injury, one that was going to scar.

 

All in all, she was lucky to survive. Most of the cuts and bruises and been healed and her ribs had been mended, they were just waiting on her shoulder bone and joint to grown back, (evidently the best the course of action was to vanish the bones altogether), that would take a week. Her lung and the deep gashes she received would take longer though, 2 weeks Promfrey said.

 

Snape stayed to administer some pain relief potions, getting slightly annoyed when she questioned what each one of them was. Overall though, he seemed to be rather well-mannered, if not outright nice to her, which was especially odd considering he had been up half the night baby-sitting. He occasionally threw a slightly concerned look her way before becoming haughty again, it seemed he was actually worried about her wellbeing.

 

Each night through-out the two weeks a house elf popped by to drop off her homework and get a health update on behalf of Dumbledore. He was apparently getting more and more invested in her health and wellbeing by the day, he probably thought it was caring of him to check in, she didn’t find it to be anything other than annoying.

 

Oddly enough some of the homework she received seemed to be on the lighter side. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Hooch and even Professor Sprout hadn’t laid off her with the amount of homework they were giving. But she had received barely _any_ Potions or Defence work.

She could understand Quirrell, he probably didn’t want her to tell anyone about him having conversations with himself in the middle of the night, not even to mention faking his stutter. She still wasn’t _entirely sure_ the whole thing wasn’t some form of hallucination, but she didn’t see why her mind would make her see that of all things. Either way, she had decided to keep a closer eye on him from now on.

 

Professor Snape, giving her less homework however, was nothing short of a miracle. She originally thought maybe it was a part of some evil plan of his, that he was just going to give her all the rest when she returned to class and tell her it was due in the next day. Then she thought of how he looked at her when she got hurt, he was so concerned about her that maybe, he just wanted her to get better. It seemed more likely that _that_ was a hallucination too.

 

Several people had been in to see her and keep her entertained, including Fred and George who told her about all the different pranks they had pulled in their time at Hogwarts and what they were planning in the future. They were incredibly immature, but at least they made her laugh and kept her from going insane with boredom.

 

It was from the twins she learned that Hermione had initially tried to lie to the professors about what happened that night, in order to protect Harry and Ron. She had told them that she went to go and find the troll thinking she could take it down herself, but Ron and Harry came to stop her and ended up saving her life. Unfortunately for Hermione Isabella didn’t quite fit into that story, unless she went troll hunting too, which she most certainly didn’t. The truth came out and now all three of them were serving detention for endangering themselves, others and lying about it afterwards. She figured that was why she hadn’t seen them.

 

One of her more constant companions was Cedric, he came by every morning and night to see her. Sometimes he came on his own and sometimes he brought other Hufflepuffs with him, she didn’t mind either, out of everyone at this school she believed Cedric was her only true friend and she loved his company.

 

Through the months the assigned friendship had developed into something easier, it was a quiet kind of friendship. They didn’t need to speak to each other overly much as they usually knew what the other was thinking, but when they did they always made each other laugh or smile, he was the only one she allowed to call her Bella but he liked to call her ‘sweet’ as well. She was stuck in a vicious self-hate cycle, every time she saw him she allowed herself to act like a little girl with a crush (which she was), then he would leave and she would berate herself for being so ridiculous and swear the next time she saw him she would only _act_ that way, not actually mean it. Of course, that never happened. So, the cycle ensued.

 

Unfortunately for her, while she was locked away quidditch season had started up again at Hogwarts. This meant that no matter how nice it was for them to visit, none of the boys or even the other occasional well-wisher, had the time to see her anymore. Between watching or taking part in the practices, the game and the celebrations afterwards, she was forgotten.

 

It was around this point she started to wish Snape and Quirrell would give her more homework, just so she had something to do. She fully believes it was this type of thinking and self-pity that brought on the next events, which were to say the least, _entirely unpleasant_.

 

Draco Malfoy had written home to his father, to express his utter excitement about the upcoming Christmas holidays and even more so his first Hogwarts quidditch match. Lucius, the _doting_ father he is, decided to come to the school and watch the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match with his son and friend Severus Snape. Snape proceeded to tell Lucius the events that had transpired at the school, namely the troll attack and Isabella’s involvement. This _naturally_ led Lucius to come and visit Isabella in the infirmary… where she couldn’t even run away from him _and_ had to keep up the pathetic Hufflepuff act.

 

The match had resulted in several injuries, so the other end of the infirmary was rather busy, and Madame Promfrey was constantly running back and forth. She wouldn’t get away with being her true self here.

 

She had been finishing off one of the charms essays she had received when she heard someone walking towards her, she didn’t even need to look up to see it was Lucius.

 

The tell-tale, _step, step, click,_ of his completely un-necessary walking stick gave him away. She refused to look up at him, carrying on with her essay, when neither of them spoke for several minutes she finally gave in.

 

“I thought I wasn’t going to be hearing from you again?” The words were said politely and quietly, but inside her head she was listing off all the insults she would throw in his face if she weren’t a _bloody Hufflepuff._

“You weren’t.” He spoke down his nose at her. “I simply came to see if you were still alive, it seems I’ll be disappointing your mother when I tell her you made it.”

 

“You seem to forget _Lord Malfoy,_ she isn’t my mother anymore. Which I must say I am most grateful for.” She looked up and made eye-contact with him.

 

“You insolent child!” He hissed, walking closer to her bedside. “You were given everything! Your mother gave you life, she gave you magic, we educated you, raised you, gave you everything you could ever want and need. You were brought up properly with the right belief system, with opportunities most others will never receive!” He was furious at her reply.

 

He walked closer yet and took a deep breath, before lowering his voice so others wouldn’t overhear him as he spoke. “You realise, you will never be able to practice dark magic now, and when he returns, he _will_ kill you. You are nothing different from every other blood traitor in this world, and he will not show mercy. I hear you’ve even been befriending blood-traitors and mudblood’s alike, it’s _disgusting.”_

 

“I’m sorry you think so Lord Malfoy,” she spoke clearly, not even a little upset at his words. “But I must assure you, that I am no traitor of any kind and I fully intend to regain my titles and wealth when the time comes. Thank-you or visiting, I know you didn’t have to.” She turned back to her essay.

 

He left the infirmary furious at her response, he didn’t even know the girl anymore. Draco said she had changed, but he had no idea just how much.


	8. Mission Accomplished

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Mission Accomplished_

It was later on the very same day that Hermione, Harry and Ron came to visit her in the Infirmary. They had come just after dinner, and even brought some dessert for her.

 

Since she had already finished all of her homework, and then re-written it so it was as good as it could possibly be, the only thing left for her to do was read through her text books. When the only other option was lying in the uncomfortable infirmary bed and staring at the celling, reading all her text books front to back seemed exciting in comparison. She had already finished Transfiguration, Charms and Defence. The only books left were Potions and Herbology, at least she knew the end of year examination would be a breeze.

 

The three had walked in just as she finished the potions chapter detailing the proper way to remove a bezoar from a goat’s stomach, it even had disturbing diagrams shown on the sides of the page. Thank Merlin that they only had to buy them from the shop.

 

“Hey Bella, watya readin’?” Ron asked her as he slumped in the only available chair at her bedside, leaving Harry and Hermione standing at the edge of the bed.

 

“My potions textbook, since there isn’t really anything else to do in here.” She said quietly as she sat up properly and looked at him. “Also, sorry but can we please not call me Bella. It’s just – that’s – well that’s what they call my mother, I don’t really want to be reminded of her.” She made an effort to rub the back of her neck and smile sheepishly. She was even picking up on other people’s body language now and using it herself, this act of hers was becoming kind of fun.

 

“Oh, course. No prob.” He replied to her with a smile. In comparison to Ron the Weasley twins were perfect gentlemen, honestly, he had absolutely no manners and could barely sting a sentence together. He must drive Snape mad.

 

“We just wanted to come and thank-you Isabella,” Hermione interjected before Ron could speak any more, “and apologise. This is the second time we’ve got you hurt, and we really feel quite bad about it.”

Her and Harry looked contrite after she finished speaking, Ron was staring off into the distance day-dreaming. She wished she was allowed to hex him, but since she couldn’t she would just have to treasure the memory of poisoning him on their first day in potions.

 

After remembering that particularly amusing incident, the smile easily came to her face.

 

“That’s okay, you didn’t mean to knock me down that time, and I really don’t see how the troll was anyone’s fault, but it is weird that it got in the castle I suppose, I haven’t really thought about it. You don’t have anything to thank me for either, I was pretty useless back there. It was _you_ guys who save _my_ life.” Gut wrenchingly, that was true.

 

“But if Ron and Harry hadn’t upset me, I wouldn’t have been there and then neither would you.” Isabella could practically smell the desperation from the girl, it seemed Hermione wanted to be friends with her and this was her way of achieving it.

 

“I suppose… Well then, I guess we’re all sorry and thankful to each other.” Isabella said, hoping to appease the girl by lying through her teeth. Being saved by these three was nothing short of humiliating, and she had absolutely nothing to be sorry for. But judging by the smile that lit up Hermione’s and Harry’s faces she was pretty sure she had said the right thing, even Ron seemed to lighten up a little.

 

“So, since we’re friends now?” She looked at them questioningly, waiting until they nodded their heads in affirmation, “could you tell me what really happed that night on the third-floor? It’s just, after what Dumbledore said at the start of term, I guess I’m just curious.” She looked at them hopefully.

 

The trio looked at each other before Harry sighed and nodded. Gryffindors, so easy to manipulate. Hermione came and sat directly next to her at the top of the bed, she shuffled over a bit so they could both fit on, secretly feeling extremely uncomfortable with how close they were. Harry sat at the bottom of the bed facing them both, getting comfortable before he started.

 

It was bizarre how much they trusted her, they didn’t even know her. All they knew was that her mother and father were two certifiably insane mass murders, currently serving life if Azkaban after being the biggest supporters of Lord Voldemort known to date, and that she was raised by another family of dark wizards since then. But hey! She got sorted in to Hufflepuff, so how harmful could she be really?

 

Their innocence was laughable!

 

“So, I guess it all started before the start of term.” Harry began, “Hagrid took me to get my school things after telling me that I was a wizard, and while we were there we went to Gringotts for money. Only, Hagrid emptied another vault and said that it was Hogwarts business, said that he got it for Dumbledore. It was only a small brown bag so I didn’t think anything of it, until the newspapers a few weeks later. That vault got broken into the same day that Hagrid emptied it!”  Harry’s voice was starting to rise in excitement as he explained.

 

“I remember that article!” She said quickly, “I thought it was bound to be fake news, no-one would ever break into Gringotts. Totally not worth it.”

 

“Well it must be worth it, whatever it is.” Hermione added in next to her.

 

“When we went to the third-floor corridor that day, it was by accident, like I told you.” Ron said, “and Filch nearly did catch us, so we ran away, like I said, but that was _way_ before we bumped into you.” He seemed more concerned about being called a liar than anything.

 

“Exactly, but we ran to the end of the corridor and Hermione managed to get us into a locked room, it was the only place to hide. We were so relieved to not get caught, that we didn’t really pay attention. There was a massive three-headed dog in there, I’ve never even heard of anything like it.” Harry had picked up the story again, “and it was standing on a trap door. We think it’s guarding whatever Hagrid took, and we also think someone is trying to steal it.” Harry stopped there.

 

“There is a Cerberus in Hogwarts?” Was her only response, they had told her quite the story, but that was the most far-fetched part of it all. Cerberus’s were widely known as extremely vicious animals, and were not to be dealt with without a trained professional. She remembered asking for one on her 5th birthday, and throwing a tantrum when Narcissa said no. She lit Narcissa’s favourite curtains on fire with _‘accidental’_ magic.

 

“That’s what it’s called?! I tried to find reference for it in the library but couldn’t get anything, and it’s not like I could ask a teacher about it.” Hermione was practically jumping in her seat and the prospect of new information, shaking Isabella as she did so since they _just had_ to be sitting so closey.

 

“There won’t be anything in the main library, maybe in the restricted section, but we obviously wouldn’t go in there.” Hufflepuffs were sticklers for the rules and she had to stay in character, “they’re classified as dark animals by the ministry because of how vicious they can be.” This received a snort from Ron, who had obviously figured that out by now. “They’re really cool though. It’s not for sure but some people think that they’re like Runespoors, the left head is the one that makes all the decisions, the middle head is the dreamer and the right head is the critic. If you mashed them all together it would be like one fully functional personality, but because they’re separated…well the poor thing can get a bit confused, hence the likelihood to attack. It’s not the animals fault though.” She failed to add that if the bloody thing dared to bite her, she was likely to attack back by cutting its heads off.

 

Since that little piece of information was left out though, they probably just thought she was a softy for animals.

 

“That is cool,” Harry agreed, “so we ran away from the dog, and that was when we bumped into you. Not much has happened since then, until the troll that was. We think someone let the troll in to distract everyone, while they went to go and get through the trapdoor, and the thing is on the night of the attack Snape had blood on his leg. He’s been limping as well, so we think it’s him.”

 

“It’s not just that though,” Hermione butted in again, “At the quidditch match today Snape tried to throw Harry of his broom, he must know we’re onto him.” For a second Isabella had the ridiculous image of Snape flying into the Quidditch pitch mid-game on his own broom, before physically grabbing Harry and dropping him to the floor. It took serious effort not to laugh aloud as Hermione elaborated, “Snape was staring at Harry, without blinking, and wouldn’t stop muttering a spell to himself. When I caused a distraction in the teacher’s area as well, Harry’s broom was okay again.”

 

Isabella wasn’t convinced it was Snape, if he was going to kill Harry, Harry would be dead. He would have also done it a lot sooner, that way he wouldn’t have to put up with the boys awful brewing skills in his lessons. She didn’t say anything though, just nodded along as though everything they were saying was making perfect sense.

 

“We spoke to Hagrid after the match and told him everything we just told you. Apparently, the Cerberus is his, and it’s called Fluffy, and whatever it’s guarding has something to do with a man called Nicholas Flamel. We just don’t know who that is.” Harry sighed sadly to himself at the missing puzzle piece.

 

She shook her head and told them that she couldn’t help, and before they could discuss it further Madame Pomphrey came in and told them it was time to leave.

 

“I’m getting out tomorrow, so maybe I could sit with you guys at dinner, and we can talk about it then?” She looked at them with a false hopeful expression on her face.

 

The three nodded eagerly as they walked out, and Harry threw a massive smile her way, which she returned in full just before he turned the corner.

 

Once she was alone, she smiled to herself. There was only one thing Flamel had ever succeeded in, other that creating the longest list of shit inventions ever known to wizarding kind, and that was the Philosopher’s Stone.

 

The stone was somewhere in Hogwarts, and someone was trying to steal it. So, who could she think of, that was _that_ desperate for eternal life. The more she thought about it, the more she realised there was only one person she could think of.

 

There was absolutely no way in hell though, that Lord Voldemort was letting troll’s into Hogwarts castle, and if he were strolling down the halls, fighting Cerberus’s and attempting to murder Harry someone would know about it.

 

Unless.

 

Unless someone else was doing it for him

 

* * *

 

She just couldn’t let it go, the thought was in her head and it just wouldn’t leave. She had managed to fully convince herself that the dark lord was using someone for his own bidding, of course she couldn’t prove it, and it made absolutely no sense what so ever but there was just a feeling inside her that said she was onto something.

 

She was released from the infirmary the next day and immediately returned to classes, keeping her eyes and ears open for any new information or clues that could tell her what was going on.

 

The only things in the castle that were even remotely strange, was that Snape was actually being nice to her, since she had been injured by the troll she had become a school celebrity, and Quirrell, just in general. She had decided to keep an extremely close eye on the professor, both in and out of class, she even took to the habit of stalking him down the corridors when her new friends weren’t keeping her hostage.

 

Her free time was spent divided, most of the time she had free was spent with Cedric and her other ‘friends’. She had taken to sitting at the Gryffindor table at lunch and the Hufflepuff table during breakfast and dinner, any other free time was dedicated to homework and Quirrell stalking.

 

At least one good thing had happened, her detention with Snape seemed to be completely forgotten, she definitely wasn’t going to bring it up and remind him though, no matter how nice he was being to her.


	9. Festive Spirits

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

 

_Festive Spirits_

 The Christmas holidays begun days after her release from the infirmary, which worked in her benefit, this way she only had a few days of classes and then throughout the holiday got to play catch-up on any work she had managed to miss.

 

Naturally, she had signed up to stay at Hogwarts over the break, since the only other option she had was to go the orphanage, and she didn’t plan on going there for the first time over Christmas break. If all the kids there were younger as Dumbledore mentioned, it was bound to be some sort of disorganized bedlam. Not that she particularly wanted to meet the little creatures in the summer either, it just seemed preferable to put it off as long as possible.

 

 Unfortunately for her, Cedric was going home to his family for Christmas, leaving her behind. On the day all the other students were leaving she snuck out the castle in the crowd and walked with Cedric all the way to the train stop in Hogsmeade before saying good-bye, it was pathetic how much she was going to miss him and what was even worse was how soppy she was acting around him. He gave her a kiss on the cheek before he boarded the train, thankfully her cheeks were already rosy from the cold so he didn’t notice her blush. It would be odd being at Hogwarts without seeing him every day, she really had come to depend on a least some genuine conversations and emotions to keep her stable. Maybe this would be a good learning experience for her, she knew she was only 12, but she really needed to grow up.

 

Hermione had left as well, thankfully, but not without leaving them homework. They were supposed to find out more about Nicholas Flamel, but she was still playing ignorant. Occasionally she was throwing in a false lead just to get them excited, but she wasn’t going to tell them anything.

 

That left her with Ron, Harry and the twins. All of Hufflepuff house had gone home after being deeply infected with this so-called Christmas spirit, she personally wasn’t feeling it. She wasn’t expecting any presents this year, and since she had been disinherited she couldn’t give them either, even if it would only be out of spite. She knew that on Christmas day Draco would spend the morning with his parents and they would all exchange gifts, then they would have lunch and ready themselves for the Ministry’s Yule Ball, she had never missed one before. She had never hated the Malfoys as much as she did at that moment either.

 

Once the train was out of sight she started the long walked back to the castle alone, enjoying the sound of her shoes crunching in the shallow snow, and the peace around her.

 

“Lestrange! Watcha doin’ down ere’ ey?” Hagrid’s booming half English interrupted her peace and quiet as he strode over.

 

“Apologies Mr. Hagrid, it’s just all of Hufflepuff house left today and I wanted to see them off is all. I know I shouldn’t have suck out, but I’m going to be by myself now for the next few weeks, I just thought it would be nice to say goodbye.” She looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes, she knew she wouldn’t get in any trouble. Hagrid didn’t just have one or two soft spots, he was covered in them. As long as she had a sob story, it would be all good.

 

“Ah, thas’ alrigh’ them, les’ get you back to the castle fore’ anyone notices tho’.”

 

The walk back to the castle was much quicker and louder than she had originally intended. Hagrid did most of the talking, and even though she just nodded her head here and there and pretended to pay attention to what he was saying, he seemed to actually enjoy her company smiling and laughing all the way. When they arrived at the gates he left for his hut letting her walk the rest of the way to castle, but he did give her some advice before he left.

 

“Any o those kids give you grief bout’ your family, you come teh me okay? I’ll sor it out. Ah know wha kids can be like s’times, don’t you bother bout’ it Isa.”

 

She smiled and gave him a polite than-you, before they separated happily. Why people insisted on giving her a nickname she would never know, but she supposed that Isa was far _far_ more preferable to her than Bella. Word must have gotten around that she hated that name, she had mentioned it enough, if fact she thought she remembered Quirrell calling her Isa that night in the Infirmary. Everything was so blurry though, so maybe not.

 

* * *

 

Most students would be elated if it only took them one week to catch up on their missed school work, but all that meant for Isabella was that she now had nothing to do for the next three weeks.

 

It only took 5 minutes of sitting and doing nothing before she was up and quickly striding out of the secluded Hufflepuff common room. She had no idea where she was going or what she was planning on doing, as long as she was doing _something._ She even briefly considered going to see Hagrid in that peculiar hut of his, but decided that would be a last resort only.

 

She was heading in the direction of the great hall when she heard shouting in one of the corridors she passed on her way. She stealthily walked down the hall staying close to walls so she wouldn’t be seen immediately by whoever it was.

 

“Those troublemakers! I should lock them up in cages! Hang them by their toes in the dungeons! Maybe a good whack will sort them out...” It was Filch.

 

He was looking around him wildly as though trying to find the culprits of the mess he was currently dealing with.

 

It looked like some sort of bomb had gone off in the corridor, but instead of causing any real damage it has just covered the walls, ceiling and floor in paints of all different colours. Nearly the entire corridor was covered. It was some sort of prank paint she noticed, as Filch was trying to mop the floor not only was the paint not coming off but the mop was changing colours depending on which paint it landed on.

 

She had to hold in her laughter. Filches coat was trailing on the floor and getting covered in the stuff, but for each new colour it picked up it was flashing it out, it looked like something Dumbledore would wear with its flashing rainbow. One of his shoes had turned hot pink, while the other was green.

 

Isabella quickly looked down in alarm to make sure she wasn’t stood in any of it, but alas one of her shoes was now a deep purple colour while the other was bright orange. She was making sure her shoes were matching when she heard sniggering coming from an alcove across from her, naturally, it was the Weasley twins. They were both laughing at her as quietly as they could, when she saw them they motioned for her to come an join them in their little paint free zone. Hopping over quickly, and making sure she didn’t stand in any more horrible colours, she was out of sight before Filch saw her.

 

They watched him as he tried to clean, and continued to fail. At one point he threw the mop to the floor in frustration, shouting, swearing and cursing the twins all the while. When he bent to pick the mop up the colours it had landed in transferred onto his hand, which was now flashing between, yellow, black, red and silver. He moved the mop over to the other hand to get a look at the now flashing one, not realising he just covered that one as well. When he did notice he threw the mop down and stormed in the opposite direction, but unlucky as he was, he slipped in the paint. Now the skin on his face, his hair, and all of his clothes were flashing every colour of the rainbow, he was livid as he once again stood and stormed off.

 

Once he was out of ear shot, the three burst out laughing at his expense.

 

“Will it come off?” She asked them once she had regained her breath.

 

“Yeah, it wears off after 24 hours.” One of them said smiling at her, the other was looking down at a piece of parchment in his hand.

 

“I bet he’s going to see Professor Dumbledore, aren’t you worried you’ll get in trouble?”

 

“Actually, he’s going to get Snape.” It was the other talking this time. Fred, she thought, she noticed that his nose was slightly broader than his brothers, at least that meant she would stand a chance at telling them apart now. “And no, we won’t get in trouble because no-one knows it was us.” He was smiling at her too.

 

“Wait,” she was confused by something Fred said, “how do you know he’s going to see Snape?”

 

“That’s for us to know Isa.” George said laughing as they walked away, not even a little bothered about the paint getting on their shoes. Fred saluted her with the parchment in his hand before they turned the corner.

 

She was too bored to let it go.

 

“Peeves!” She shouted hoping he was close by, as she walked away from the crime scene quickly

 

* * *

 

Isabella had been sat up in the Hufflepuff common for over an hour now, she was waiting as patiently as she could, but he was _very_ late.

 

After the incident it didn’t take her long to find peeves, and took her an even shorter amount of time for him to spill the twin’s secret. Apparently, they had a magical map that told them where everyone in the castle was at any given point, as well as all the different ways to get in and out. As soon as she heard about it she knew she needed to have it, something like that would be invaluable to her in the future, so Peeves was given a mission.

 

 It was now one week later, 11:56 on Christmas eve night to be exact, and she was waiting for Peeves to appear. Just as she thought about giving up and going to bed Peeves suddenly shot through the ceiling above her, making her jump out of her seat in the process, which he found to be entirely amusing.

 

He sat in the chair across from her, and held the map out for her to take.

 

“Sorry to be late Miss. the twinsies were soooo excited about Christmas they just couldn’t fall asleep.” Peeves said in a sing-song voice.

 

“Thank-you very much Peeves, and that’s okay. Can you come back in an hour?” She asked him politely, he was more than happy to do her bidding as long as she was kind to him it seemed. He nodded happily before flying out the way he came in.

 

She set to work.

 

“I solemnly swear, that I am up to no good.” She spoke, the password provided by the poltergeist worked immediately.

 

She knew she couldn’t just steal the map, it would be way too obvious that it was her, and all the trust she had built up between herself and the others would vanish in seconds. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t replicate it. Complex magical objects as a rule could not be duplicated, lesser ones could but the duplication would work to a much lesser degree, to the point where it really wasn’t worth doing in the first place. That was why she needed time with the map.

 

She pulled out her own piece of parchment. She was using the expensive parchment her Uncle had gotten her at the start of term, it was rip proof, water proof, smudge proof and pretty much everything else proof as well. It was perfect for a map since it wouldn’t age or damage, like the Weasleys’ one had. She cast her wand over the original map and used a spell she had learned from one of her Uncles books, it wasn’t harmful, but that didn’t stop it from being dark.

 

“ _Revelet Deus_ _A_ _bsconsa_ _T_ _ua_ _.”_ The spell was rather simple, it worked its way through enchanted or magical items, and above said item created a list in the air of all the spells that had been put into it. The ministry had black listed the spell as it could also be used on wards and defensive objects, as soon as the spell was cast the caster knew exactly how to get past them. It had been removed from all legally sold books and British curriculum over 250 years ago, next to no-one even knew it anymore.

 As soon as the list was finished she got to work casting the spells onto her own parchment, they were relatively simple spells, but combined had created something marvellous. An hour later Peeve’s came back to collect the original map, he took it and quickly moved to replace it in the twins’ bedroom.

 There were slight differences between the two. The original was old. The black ink and white parchment had faded to brown, there were tears in the corners and the overall design was slightly less accurate.  Her new one was pristine; black ink (which wouldn’t fade), white paper (which wouldn’t damage) and an overall more accurate representation of Hogwarts. She had managed to make sure that the stairways on her map moved when they did in real life, hers also included the room of requirement on it which was Peeves’s helpful input. Better yet, her map also included the Hogwarts grounds, including the lake, the forbidden forest and Hogsmeade. It didn’t open with a password, only her magical signature could work it. 

Some more complicated spells also tracked the movement of any magical creatures in the building and the location of any magical objects. Of course, you could pick and choose what you wanted to see. You could say: “People”, “Creatures”, “Objects” or “All”. Depending on what you wanted. You could also search for specific items. 

“Show me,” Isabella began with a wicked smile, “the Philosopher’s Stone.”


	10. Altercations

 

 **『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

_Altercations_

 

Isabella woke up on Christmas morning happy with her work from the previous night. It was like a little Christmas present to herself, which was sad, but brilliant all the same. She had made sure to do the map when she did, in the hopes that the twins would be so excited this morning they wouldn’t notice if it had been moved slightly. They probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

Her morning passed uneventfully, she sat by the fire and read a book for some of it. Most of her time was spent watching her map though, she loved being able to know where everyone was and when.

 

What was even better, was that she now knew exactly where the Philosophers stone was. It showed the Cerberus on the third-floor, and there was also a little marker for Devil’s Snare directly below somewhere between the first and second floors. Further beneath that there was a passage way in a lower level of the castle that she hadn’t seen before, under the ‘objects’ demand, there was ‘Enchanted Keys’ and ‘Enchanted Chess’ markers in some of the rooms before the stone. It made sense that there were other things protecting it as well as fluffy.

 

The day passed quickly from there, she spent the afternoon in the great hall with Percy, Fred, George and Ron Weasley as well as Harry Potter. They all had a good laugh at Filch as he stormed past the entrance, he had changed his clothes but his skin was still flashing different colours. Cleary the novelty of the flashing paint hadn’t worn off, as the twins continued to use it.

 

They told her all about the invisibility cloak Harry had received. She noted to herself that she would need to make sure the map could see past the cloak, or Harry would be able to get away with anything he wanted without her knowing.   

 

Isabella briefly thought that they should be wearing the cloak to cover up the hideous jumpers they were all wearing. But outwardly stated that she loved them, and thought their mother was wonderful for doing something so kind for them. Which then made Ron blush for some reason.

 

“Are you okay Ron?” She asked in was she hoped sounded like a concerned voice, “you look flushed.” She went to put a hand on his forehead and check his temperature, mainly to embarrass him in front of his brothers, but he dodged her hand quickly. She didn’t miss the sharp look Harry sent his way.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, but you see…” He was almost as red as his hair at this point. He reached behind him and pulled out a large wrapped package, it had her name written on the top.

 

“I write my mum twice a week, an’ I tell her everythin’. So, when she asked bout’ you, well… I told her everythin’. She felt really bad bout’ what happened with your family and the Malfoys, so she sent you this, and a card.” He said bashfully as he pushed the present over to her.

 

She opened the card first:

 

_Isabella,_

_I know we haven’t met my dear, but since Ron wrote to me I can’t get your troubles out of my mind. The trials that you are going through are truly awful and I wish I could do something to help. Harry is another of Ron’s friends without parents, and I want you both to know that if you ever need anything, the Weasley family will be there in a jiffy. I just want to be able to help you both however much I can._

_Ronald says you seem very happy to be away from those people, and don’t hold to their values at all, but it must still be difficult. Fred and George have also told us what a wonderful young lady you are, very compassionate and kind. As most Hufflepuffs are._

_I just couldn’t bear the thought of you spending Christmas alone or without presents. So, I have decided to make you some as well._

_Hoping you have a wonderful Christmas, Molly._

 

At the bottom of the letter she had written her floo address.

 

Isabella was floored. This woman, whom she had never met before wanted to help her. She was acting more like a mother to Isabella in this one letter than Narcissa or even Bellatrix ever had done, she couldn’t help but feel slightly emotional.

 

She wasn’t about to throw herself at Molly Weasley and start calling her mother, but it was a very kind thing for the woman to do. Very stupid, but very kind. She folded the note and put it in her pocket, ignoring the looks the other Weasleys were sending her way, as she swallowed the emotion.

 

She wasn’t emotional because of Molly’ kindness though, all the woman had managed to do was reveal to her what she hadn’t had so far in her life. She was emotional because up until now she hadn’t quite realised, she didn’t loose her family when she was sorted into Hufflepuff, she never had one to begin with.

 

She was raised by house elves, taught by tutors and paid for by the Malfoys, and she had only seen her mother and father on the yearly visits allowed at Azkaban. That was her concept of family, and it had just been blasted apart. In comparison to the Weasleys, her family bonds were nothing more than business dealings.

 

She had certainly never worn a homemade jumper with a large ‘I’ stitched onto the front, or eaten home-made baked goods.

 

It wouldn’t hurt to enjoy it though. Even if it was only for Christmas.

 

* * *

 

The Christmas feelings were soon forgotten.

 

Having the map had brought on a whole new confidence in Isabella. After a few days with the map she knew the entire castle front to back. She worked to improve it in every way she could, and after doing some sneaky research in the restricted section, she had found a way to manipulate the spell she used to create the map in the first place.

 

By using the, _Revelet Deus_ _A_ _bsconsa_ _T_ _ua_ _,_ spell within the map it now told her all the secret passwords in the castle. She could get into the other house’s dorms, the kitchens, the teacher’s room, Dumbledore’s office and even the teacher’s private quarters if she wanted to. Additionally, there was now a list at the edge of the map, next to Hagrid’s hut, of all the different wards surrounding the castle. It was brilliant.

 

It was also great for Quirrell Stalking, which was now one of her favourite activities.

 

She had mastered the disillusionment charm in the past few days, she cast it on herself and followed the professor around. She stuck to the shadows and alcoves though and made sure to place a silencing charm on her shoes, honestly, sometimes it was like he had eyes in the back of his head.

 

He continued to talk to himself when others weren’t around, which was great because it meant that she hadn’t been hallucinating that night. What was weird though was that the hissing noise was also still there, replying to him, after a while it almost started to sound like words.

 

Could Quirrell be the one helping the dark lord? He was the most likely suspect.

 

She knew she couldn’t just outright ask him, if she was wrong that would be a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Maybe she could share a cell with her ex-family. So, she simply stuck to following him everywhere, until he gave something away.

 

She was sat up in the common room watching Quirrell on the map. His classroom was only two corridors down from the Hufflepuff common room, so as soon as he left she was going to go and follow him again. Most nights he was in his classroom until 10, then he would leave and go to his quarters for the night.

 

She didn’t let her eyes stray from Quirrell’s name, as soon as the label moved she was up and out the door. Immediately on his tail.

 

He followed the same path as usual, having no idea that she was following behind, he was talking to himself like usual. Using the map, she kept an eye out for anyone else around. As they walked past the library she saw Filch’s name but at least they weren’t going to cross him. What was odd was that Harry’s name also showed up as being in the restricted section, she didn’t have time to investigate though, she was sure he would end up telling her anyway.

 

Quirrell didn’t notice Snape lying in wait for him around the corner.

 

“Severus, I-I-I-I-I-…” Poor Quirrell barely had time to understand what was happening before he was pushed up against the wall, Snape’s hand holding him there by his neck.

 

“You don’t want me as your enemy Quirrell.” Snape drawled at him darkly.

 

“W-what do you m-mean?” He could barely get his words out he was so terrified. If this was who the dark the lord had chosen to help him, he seriously needed to reconsider.

 

“You know perfectly well what I mean.” Snape was about to expand when he suddenly turned to look at the empty space behind him, he cautiously lifted his hand and went to grab something out of the air. His hand was still empty though when he turned and rounded on Quirrell again.

 

Confused Isabella looked down at her map from where she was hiding in an alcove, it was Harry. He was stood under his invisibility clock and spying on the professors.

 

Snape pointed his finger at Quirrell’s face threateningly, “we’ll have another little chat soon, when you’ve had time to decide _where your loyalties lie_.” They were interrupted by Filch rounding the corner.

 

“Oh, professors. I found this, in the restricted section, it’s still hot. Which means there’s a student out of bed.” He was holding up a broken lantern.

 

Clumsy Harry, very clumsy.

 

They all took off in different directions, not knowing that their efforts were in futile. They wouldn’t find her or Harry. She decided to wait until the coast was clear, the teachers left first and then she saw Harry walk away on the map as well.

 

Walking quickly, she made it back to the Hufflepuff common room and gave her map a quick check over. Snape, Quirrell and Filch were still searching the castle as quickly as they could, which made her laugh a bit.

 

Harry however had found himself alone in a room of the castle. There was just one other marker with him, ‘Mirror of Erised.’


	11. Preparations

**『 Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection 』**

_Preparations_

 

After the Christmas holidays everything was peaceful for a while. There were no more troll’s being let into the caste, no more murder attempts on Harry and infuriatingly no more attempts to steal the stone. Harry was spending a rather peculiar amount of time with the mirror of Erised, but she wouldn’t go near it. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted most in the world, and seeing it would only be vexatious when she knew she didn’t have it yet.

 

For months school was just school. She went to class, ate at meal times did her homework and chatted with friends. That was it. The only even remotely amusing thing going on was Hermione almost going insane. She hadn’t stopped researching Nicholas Flamel, she was absolutely certain that he would be in the modern history section of the library. Naturally, she didn’t know that the man was almost 700-years-old, he would be in the ancient history section.

 

Isabella had even given up on Quirrell stalking, it was fun to start with but other than the odd habits he had, there was nothing interesting about the man. She kept a close eye on her map though, and no-one had gone anywhere near the third-floor corridor since the troll incident. Snape was still being kind to her, but everything else had returned to normal.

 

It was all very boring.

 

It was almost April time now so Cedric and she spent most of their time getting ready for the exams together, occasionally Hermione would join them too, which she secretly thought even Cedric found annoying. Fortunately today, she and Cedric were sat alone in the library, the trio were across the hall where Ron and Harry were trying to complete their last minute homework. Hermione had left several minutes before and had yet to return – not that Isabella had been keeping track. A large thud in their direction brought Isabella’s attention back to them and off her book, Hermione had just dropped a mammoth book on the table and as she watch they started flipping through it as they spoke excitedly.

 

Isabella put her book down on the table between her and Cedric and walked over to the trio. She smiled at Cedric as she left, “I’ll be back in a minute,” she whispered in the near silence of the library.

 

He was so immersed in his book he barely acknowledged her leaving, except with a small noise in the back of his throat that made her giggle at him.

 

The trio were talking excitedly, and when Harry looked up and saw her walking over, he gestured for her to hurry up. Which she didn’t, continuing to walk at a leisurely pace towards them.

 

“Isa, we’ve found out who Nicolas Flamel is.” Harry said excitedly when he reached them. At Hermione’s sharp look he laughed at started again, “Isa, Hermione has found out who Nicolas Flamel is.”

 

“That’s better.” She said to him quietly, “he’s the maker of the Philosophers Stone, which gives immortal life to the owner. _That’s_ what Fluffy’s guarding on the third floor. _That’s_ what’s under the trap door. The Philosopher’s Stone.”

 

“We have to go and ask Hagrid about it, if he knows that we’ve found out he’ll be sure to help us. Maybe he’ll believe us about Snape.” Harry said excitedly.

 

“Let’s go then!” Ron shouted.

 

“Wait! It’s after dark. Curfew is in half an hour,” she said to them, “you can’t ask Hagrid anything if you’re all in detention.”

 

As if to prove her point Cedric walked over with her bag, “Bella, it’s time to go back to the common room. I’ve put you book in your bag. See you later guys.” She went to take the bag from him, but he slung it over his own shoulder, before starting his slow retreat out the library.

 

She looked at the trio one last time, “See you tomorrow.” she said before leaving them there.

 

Before she was out the door she heard Harry say,

 

“Why does _he_ get to call her Bella?!” 

 

* * *

 

That night Isabella sat up in bed, she had all her textbooks in front of her and she was furiously studying to get ready for the exams. They we’re just over a month away, and that was no time at all. She had the map open next to her, focusing on Hagrid’s hut, just in case the others went for information.

 

She stopped what she was doing when she saw Hermione’s, Ron’s and Harry’s names appear near the hut. She shook her head, why they couldn’t have just waited until the next day she didn’t know, but that was Gryffindors for you.

 

They quickly went inside the hut with Hagrid and stayed there a while, she was only slightly shocked when she saw that Draco was following behind them.

 

‘Serves them right’ she thought, she warned them not to go.

 

She went back to her studying and ignored the map for a while. She would gain nothing from sitting there and watching names float around, and there was no way she was going to fail her first year.

 

The next time she looked at the map the trio’s names were no longer there. In the hut their names had been replaced with the word ‘Dragon’. What the hell?!

 

“Show me Harry Potter.” she said to the map, hoping they hadn’t all been killed by a dragon. There would be no point in all this spying if he didn’t even survive long enough to face Voldemort in the first place.

 

Thankfully, they were alive. Hermione, Draco, Ron and Harry were all stood in the transfiguration classroom with McGonagall.

 

Well, she did tell them.

 

* * *

 

The next day back in class the trio were looking very sullen. They all sat at the back and didn’t breathe a word during transfiguration, McGonagall had probably given them a good scolding last night leaving them in sulk. Since everyone was feeling the end of year pressure, with the exception of Ron, class went quickly and quietly as everyone tried to do their best.

 

As soon as they were out the class room and on their way to potions, they all started talking at once telling her exactly what happened and just how unfair it all was.

 

After they had arrived at Hagrid’s, he had told them that there was absolutely no way that Snape was trying to steal the stone, since he was one of the teachers that was protecting it in the first place. _Apparently,_ there were other things protecting if other than Fluffy, but no matter what they said Hagrid wouldn’t believe them when they said that Snape was trying to steal it.

They didn’t have much time to discuss it after that because Hagrid had pulled a large dragon’s egg out of his fire place, they had watched it hatch into a baby Norwegian Ridgeback. Isabella knew for a fact that you could only get dragon’s eggs on the black market, and Hagrid really didn’t seem the type so she was left wondering where on earth he got the bloody thing in the first place.

 

After the dragon had hatched they had seen Draco in the window, they had run up to the castle in the hopes of getting back to the common room before a teacher could find them. Unfortunately, Draco had already grassed them up with McGonagall.

 

“And now!” Ron said as they walked into Snape’s class, “We’ve lost 50 house points _each,_ _and_ we’ve got detention with Filch and Malfoy tonight!”

 

“Speaking of detention,” The long drawl of Snape interrupted Ron’s tirade, “I do believe you own me one Miss. Lestrange. Tonight at 8. Be here.”

 

She couldn’t hold back the scorching glare she sent Ron’s way, “at least you all deserve yours. You’re also the one who got me mine!” Even Hufflepuffs got mad sometimes, she could just blame it on the emotions. Not the complete desire to throttle him.

 

She didn’t speak to Ron for the rest of the day, and because of what she said the three of them were upset with her as well, even if it was the truth.

 

She went through the rest of the day in an awful mood, the only person who would approach her was Cedric. Who immediately lightened her spirits, not that she would admit it aloud. He walked her to Snape’s office that night for detention and gave her a hug before he left.

 

Just as she was about to knock on the door, it opened and Snape swooped past her “Come on Lestrange. We’re not waiting for the grass to grow.”

 

Before she could even blink he was way ahead of her, and she had to run to catch up. Even when she had caught up to him she had to jog to keep pace, he must have noticed the foul looks she kept sending his way, as he began to slow down slightly. Despite the now slightly more comfortable pace she couldn’t help the sighs that she kept releasing.

 

“Honestly Isabella, is that necessary?” He snapped at her, “It’s not like I’m leading you to your death.”

 

“Suicide is still an option.” She said aloud before she could stop herself.

 

Surprisingly she wasn’t met with a biting comment, he just laughed and said “How very Hufflepuff of you.”

 

She didn’t bother asking where they were going, she knew he wouldn’t tell her anyway. They headed through the corridors and up to the entrance hall, before going outside, she was still walking at full pace to keep up with him.

 

They left the warmth of the castle behind and began walking down the path, they were headed towards the forbidden forest she realised after a few seconds. In the distance she could see the golden trio and Draco at Hagrid’s hut, she wasn’t the only one serving detention in the forest tonight, it was incredibly surprising that Dumbledore had even allowed it.  

 

Snape gave a brief explanation about them going to collect potions ingredients, apparently, he was running low on several items and _of course_ couldn’t just buy them at shop. She didn’t object, even going into the forest would be better than cleaning cauldrons all night. They didn’t walk too far into the forest, most of the plants they needed wouldn’t grow in the thick of the tress, where they wouldn’t get any sunlight or rain. She was grateful for that small mercy, as a wolf howled in the distance of the woods.

 

They worked mostly in silence, he guided her over to the plants he wanted her to work on, instructed her how to do it in the most effective way and then went to another. When she was finished he would come over, take her to another plant and repeat the process. Oddly enough, she was enjoying herself.

 

She was bent down at the bottom of a tree, picking a rather peculiar type of mushroom when a twig snapped no too far from her. She looked up quickly and stopped what she was doing, trying to stay as silent as possible, in the dark she saw something moving.

 

As she looked closer she saw that it was a man in a cloak, she only got a quick glance at the persons face, probably just a millisecond, but that was all she needed.

 

It was Quirrell.

 

Looking over she saw Professor Snape was looking in the same direction as well, only with narrowed eyes.

 

“What was it?” He drawled, he wouldn’t have been able to see the Professor from his vantage point.

 

“It was Professor Quirrell.” She said looking over at Snape, “what would he be doing out here sir?”

 

“We’ll take what we’ve already picked back to the castle.” He said as he stood and started gathering his ingredients, “Now!” He snapped when he saw she wasn’t moving.

 

Snape was a man possessed, they moved quickly out of the forest and back to the castle, with her jogging yet again to keep up with him. They went straight down the halls and to the potions classroom, only he didn’t relax until the door was closed behind them. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to him after that. She wanted to know what was it about Quirrell that shook him so much, first he’s threatening the man and holding him by the throat, then 3 months later he’s running away.

 

“You don’t get along Quirrell very well, do you?” The words yet again slipped out before she could stop them.

 

“Now, _what_ would make you say that?” He asked dangerously.

 

Shit. She couldn’t exactly tell him that she was spying on him that night in the holidays, but… there was nothing stopping her from telling him Harry was.

 

“Oh… just something Harry mentioned once.” She said skittishly as she looked down.

 

That was all it took to get Snape’s attention, his utter hatred for the boy made it very easy to manipulate the situation in her favour. He put down the items he was carrying and slowly walked towards her, when he replied there was almost no space left between them. She supposed he was trying to intimidate her.

 

“And _what_ would _Potter_ know about me, that could be so bloody interesting?”

 

“He said he saw you and Quirrell in a corridor once, arguing.” She was craning her neck up to look at him.

 

“I do recall an incident a few months ago, but that was after hours, and the only other person around at the time was Filch. I think if Potter was there I would have found him.”

 

“Not if he was wearing his invisibility cloak.” You would have been able to hear a needle drop in the room after that statement.

 

“I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this Isa, but you’re just like your father.” Snape said giving her an assessing look.

 

For the next half hour, they laid out the ingredients on the table for him to prepare, and just as she finished organising them, he spoke.

 

“No, Isa. To answer your question, I don’t like Quirrell, something about him just isn’t quite right. I advise you to stay away as well, especially since he has shown a special interest in you. That is the end of your detention. Return to your common room.”


	12. Allegiance

『 Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection 』

_Allegiance_

 

The trio still weren’t talking to her, so when the news finally reached the Hufflepuff common room she was furious they hadn’t told her something so important, because they were pissed off about something _so_ petty.

 

The previous night in detention, Draco and Harry had caught a mysterious man in a cloak drinking unicorn blood and gotten been attacked by him immediately afterwards. Again, Isabella could only think of one person in the world who would be so desperate, as it seems so could everyone else. She had just returned to the Hufflepuff common room and everyone was asking her whether it was true or not.

 

Had Harry been attacked by he-who-must-not-be-named last night?

 

Probably, but that wasn’t important.

 

Did Harry have every opportunity to tell her this throughout the day?

 

Yes.

 

Did he?

 

‘No, _he_ _fucking didn’t!”_ she thought to herself furious.

 

He had managed to make a fool out of her. Everyone was asking her these questions that she couldn’t answer, even though she was supposed to be his ‘friend’. She was the last person to know, since everyone else had heard it from Draco sodding Malfoy.

 

She didn’t care if she didn’t consider Harry to be a friend, that was his problem. He wasn’t her friend. She _was_ his though. He was supposed to tell her everything, that’s how friendships worked, she would know since she had spent most of the last year studying and fabricating them. Becoming quickly annoyed with the unceasing Hufflepuff’s, she hastily stormed to her room. Even when her mask was in true danger of coming off in front of everyone, she still didn’t forget to smile at Cedric as she passed.

 

She had seen the three on several occasions throughout the day, but only within class and during their first exam. When she would usually sit with them at lunch they hadn’t turned up, she checked her map though and they were with Hagrid at his hut. It was annoying but she hadn’t thought it to be anything suspicious until now, as of late the only reason they went to see Hagrid was for information on the stone. Which means now they probably knew something she didn’t.

 

Well, at least there was one thing they didn’t know. Quirrell was in the forest that night along with the dark lord, so he _was_ the one that was helping him. The thought of being so close to the dark lord last night and not even knowing sent shivers down her spine. There was no-one in this world she idolised more than him, this was an opportunity not to be missed. If the dark lord wanted the Philosopher’s stone. He would get it.

She would get it for him.

 

* * *

 

She waited in her bedroom for the other Hufflepuff house members to return to their dorms and go to sleep. She constantly checked her map to make sure no-one would block her way in the common room before she left, and quickly escaped from the room when the coast was clear.

 

Her heart was beating fast in her chest and she could hear the blood pumping through her ears. Not with nervousness, but with anger. She was furious with the golden trio for betraying her, she worked hard for that information and they let her down, now here she was risking her life.

 

If they had just told her what they knew, she would have gone to Quirrell straight away with the map and helped him through the castle to the stone. That would have then secured her place within the dark lord’s ranks, but _n_ o!

 

Since she got the map out that night she had kept a close eye on Quirrell name, he hadn’t left the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade once. She had double checked as she left the common room and saw that he was now slowly making his way back to the castle. Lazy Bastard.

 

If she had been given this mission, Lord Voldemort would have had the stone _months_ ago.

 

She was mad at everyone right now, this is what she needed to do to prove herself. Getting on Voldemort’s good side was the only way she would get her wealth and titles back, and _no-one_ was going to stop her.

 

She had reached the third-floor corridor without hinderance, and stepped foot past the threshold for the first time. At the end of the corridor there was a single locked door, behind it, she knew was a Cerberus. Naturally she had never fought one before, for Merlin’s sake she had never even seen one before, but she was left with no other choice. She swallowed her qualms, straightened up and headed towards the door with determination, wand at the ready.

 

The door itself was old and even rotten in some places, the lock it had was pathetic at best. If this had kept a Cerberus in for an entire year, it must have been magically re-enforced. She placed her ear against the door trying to see if she could hear anything within, but it was silent, oddly so. There must have been a charm on the door, that way she wouldn’t know if she was going to face a sleeping dog or a live one.

 

Just as she was about to take her chance and open the door she heard a noise at the other end of the corridor, she quickly disillusioned herself and hid in an alcove.

 

‘Dear god!’ She thought, ‘It’s Quirrell. Why is he always here when you want him least? He’s like the opposite of a fairy god mother.’

 

She let him get on with whatever he was doing, if he began to hinder her mission she could always _stupefy_ him and get on with it herself. If she had it her way she would _Avada_ him instead, but she didn’t have enough power for that kind of spell yet.

 

Quirrell walked towards the door nervously carrying a large golden harp in his hand, his palms must have been sweating though because he nearly dropped it several times. When he got to the door he paused and took a deep breath, she didn’t even bother to quieten her breathing for where she was stood, there were only two yards between them, easily touching distance.

 

He knelt down with his wand and charmed the harp to begin playing music, she recognised the Moonlight Sonata playing.

 

“ _Alohomora.”_ He whispered shakily as he rose up, definitely lacking a stutter she noticed.

 

He walked into the room, harp in hand and she raced behind him so she would be able to inside the room. The Cerberus was awake, all three head focused in on Professor Quirrell who took a miniscule step back. She expected him to storm into the room, wand at the ready, but he simply stood there and waited.

 

She had no bloody idea what was going on, but if he didn’t get a move on soon she would just kick him into the room for the fun of it. However, Fluffy did not attack, almost as soon as he was up, he led back down again and instantly went to sleep.

 

Music made the dog sleep.

 

She grudgingly admitted it was better than her plan, but not without an eye roll and a sneer. He moved into the room and lifted the trap door up before jumping in after a slight hesitation.

 

She was now faced with 2 choices.

 

Choice 1: Go back to her warm and comfy bed and get plenty of rest before her second exam tomorrow. Utterly consoled by the realisation that Quirrell had the whole situation in hand, and everything would work out.

 

Choice 2: Fuck making a reasonable decision and run in after him, in the hopes of proving herself to the dark lord, without even a care for her own safety.

 

It was an easy decision to make she thought as she stormed towards the trap door. Anything for Lord Voldemort. Anything at all.

 

She jumped in without hesitation, the decision had only taken her a second and she could still hear Quirrell struggling down there. While she was in the air, she removed the disillusionment charm from herself and landed on the sticky floor with a soft thud.

 

“Who’s there?!” She heard Quirrell shout in a voice that was probably supposed to be intimidating.

 

“It’s Isabella.” She had replied in a high pitched and happy voice, which in her opinion sounds much more frightening than his tone.

 

“What the fuck are you doing down here Isa?!”

 

“I would ask you the same, but I think we both already now Quirinius.”

 

She already knew they had landed in Devil’s Snare; the map had told her a much. Quirrell obviously had no idea what it was though as he struggled and cast dark curses at the plant; if she rolled her eyes anymore this night they might just get stuck in the back of her head.

 

“It’s Devil’s Snare, if you move it will kill you. Not that that wouldn’t be great for me, but I have a feeling I might need you soon.” She sneered at him, before dropping through to solid ground moments later.

 

He listened to her advice, and landed much less gracefully than she did less than a minute later. She was expecting a thank-you of some sort from him after she just saved his life, but was rather disappointed instead when all she got was a wand pointed at her.

 

“Seriously?”

 

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing down here Isa, but go back to your common room immediately. Before I’m forced to kill you.”

 

“You’re pathetic.” was the only response she bothered to give him. She didn’t even bother lifting her wand to defend herself and just arched an eyebrow at him condescendingly. He almost dropped his wand in astonishment, so used to the Hufflepuff act that the real Isabella stunned him to his core.

 

“You should be ashamed of yourself Quirrell, I’ve known for months where the stone is and what’s protecting it. If the Dark Lord had honoured me with such a mission it would have been completed during the Christmas holidays, not two months before the school closes. Honestly, what the fuck have you been doing?”

 

“I- What? - How? - How do you know this?”

 

“How could I not, you’re so obvious it’s shameful. I’ve been stalking you for months, watching you at night. I saw you argue with Snape, I’ve seen you talking to you ‘ _master’,_ I even saw you in the Forbidden Forest last night. How did you ever get this mission?! You’re the worst death eater I’ve ever met, no wonder Snape hates you so much. You’re a failure.”

 

He had enough.

 

“ _Avada Ked_ -” He began to shout, before he was interrupted.

 

“Enough!” A hissing and muffled voice interrupted.

 

She had heard it before, but never so clearly. It was the voice Quirrell spent most of his nights talking to, he began to unravel his turban, letting the purple fabric roll round his hand until it was all off. He did an immediate U-turn revealing another face on the back of his head.

 

“My Lord!” Isabella gasped out, dropping to her knees harshly, she felt the pain in her legs as they collided with the concrete, but she didn’t care. She had just met lord Voldemort for the first time, she bowed her head and felt her blood rushing again.

 

“ _Isabella. How nice to meet you face to face at last. I’ve been watching you and listening in to your activities this last year, it’s very pleasing for me to now see your true self. How disappointed I was when you were placed in Hufflepuff, but it seems the hat made a rather grievous mistake. As pleasant as this is though, we don’t have the time for it. Go with Quirrell and get me that stone!”_ He hissed angrily.

 

“Yes, my lord. Anything for you my lord.”

 

This was it, her ultimate chance to prove herself. How devastated the Malfoys and Lestranges will be when the dark lord rises and has her by his side.

 

She stood quickly and let Quirrell re-wrap his head before jogging away, “Come on Quirrell, let’s not wait for the grass to grow.” She would have to thank Snape for that one later. He caught up to her just as she pushed up the lock on the next door.

 

“I can’t believe you almost tried to kill me. Didn’t think you’d have the ball’s if I’m honest.”


	13. Two-Faced

**  
『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

_Life and Death_

After being told that he wasn't allowed to kill her, Quirrell's new tactic seemed to be trying to ignore her. He stormed through the door and went ahead into the next chamber as she slowly walked behind him, if he wanted to take all the risk that was fine with her.

The next room was stunning, it looked as if they had stepped inside on of the castle's many turrets, but the space was much larger. The walls were made of smooth beige rock all perfectly in line with one another, they ascended up and up towards the ceiling above them, which was so high she couldn't see the top without tilting her head all the way back. When she did see the ceiling, she knew it was made of stained glass and as the moonlight shone through from the outside it cast shadows of all different colours over the walls and floor of the turret. In the middle of the perfectly circular room there was a broomstick hovering mid-air, and on the floor beneath it there were piles and piles of keys.

Quirrell immediately walked towards the pile and started searching for a key that might open the next door. She watched him for a while without helping, just standing with a small smile on her face, which grew larger the more he became annoyed with her.

"Aren't you going to help!" He eventually shouted at her, standing from his previously knelt position.

"I don't want _those_ keys." She said slyly, "I want that one up there." She pointed above her at the ceiling, and sure enough there was one singular key floating directly in line broom stick, only 50ft above it.

Quirrell looked murderous after being shown up yet again, without thinking he walked through the piles of keys and reached his hand out to grab the broomstick. She didn't even have the time to tell him not to, it would have been much more prudent to just levitate themselves up rather than risk whatever spell was cast on the broom. Evidently Quirrell was lacking the elementary common sense that most wizards were equipped with _at birth._

As soon as he grabbed the broom all the keys surrounding him began to shake violently, one by one they each grew a set of winds and flew into the air, all of them in different directions and in the confusion at the scene, Isabella lost sight of the original key.

By now all of the keys were in the air, flying smoothly in different directions; all blocking the sight of the original key.

"Now you've done it!" She snapped at him losing her temper, "tell me Quirinius, how does one become so useless?"

Instead of replying he mounted the broom and kicked off into the air, leaving her stood on the ground and unable to help him.

As soon as his feet left the ground the keys synchronised and darted towards him, it seemed there were several groups all with different charms on them. One group circled around his head blocking his sight from what was in front of him, another group was intending to do harm; they flew at him as fast at they could crashing into his body. The third group surrounded the key they needed to get the door open, making it near impossible to grab.

Isabella had had enough of waiting for Quirrell to get his act together, she drew her wand and aiming at the key she needed she shouted, _"Labellum!"_ The key immediately stopped flying and dropped harshly to the ground, when it collided with the floor one of it's wings broke making it easier for her to catch. Quirrell was still on the broom and completely unaware she even had the key, all the others were still attacking him and blocking his vision so he didn't even see when she left the room.

She followed the next path on her own, vaguely hearing Quirrell's struggle in the distance despite her best efforts to ignore it. At the end of the dimly lit corridor was a set of large double doors, they opened by themselves as she approached as if they were welcoming her. She held her wand cautiously at her side as she walked through the threshold, looking around the room for any potential threats. There were fire pits covering the perimeter of the room that lit themselves as she entered, casting the chamber in shadows and deep orange light.

The first thing she noticed was the large ominous statues dotted around and then the black and white checked floor they were stood upon. It was a chess board, only the pieces were twice the size she was and oozed magic.

Fortunately, she was a well experience chess player and most games she played ended in 5 minutes. When she was younger she and Lucius played all the time and he taught her every tactic and strategy he knew, wanting to be the best, she had memorised them all. She took the place of the king's side castle and began the game. As she suspected, within 5 minutes the game was over, clearly the person who had enchanted the board had never heard of 3-move-check mate before.

She had just stepped from her square and began to approach the next set of doors when Quirrell stormed in with ripped clothes which showed several cuts and his turban almost falling from his head.

"Honestly Quirinus, on occasions like these we really should be looking our best." She said snottily before turning her back and walking away, it was really rather joyous for her to not be acting like a Hufflepuff, even if it was just for the time being.

The next door had two white stone knights stood in front of it, and as they tried to approach they crossed their spears in front of the door threateningly and wouldn't let them through. In the stone archway above the doors there was a carving, _'_ _intres licet tantum pro tempore_ _'_ _._

"It says that only one person can enter at a time." She said as she read the carved letters.

"You know Latin?"

"You don't?! What kind of pureblood are you?"

"Well then Isa, _ladies first_." He spoke through gritted teeth and made a grand gesture at the doors as he stepped away, leaving the entrance free for her to pass through. Not wanting to show any weakness she walked in, head high and shoulders back.

As soon as she was over the threshold the doors behind her slammed shut, turning she noticed they had been completely covered in purple fire, she could feel the heat coming off the flames burning the skin on her cheeks. She turned again and walked further into the room where the temperature was more comfortable. The doors opposite had also been set alight with black fire, she was stuck in the room.

In the centre there was a table that held seven different bottles, all contained some sort of potion within them. Some of the bottles were tall and narrow, others were thin and they were all different colours and corked; she couldn't see or smell the potions to figure out what they were.

She was cursing Snape knowing that this was his challenge, when she noticed there was also a piece of parchment on the table. It read:

 _Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_  
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,  
One among us seven will let you move ahead,  
Another will transport the drinker back instead,  
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,  
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.  
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,  
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:  
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide  
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;  
Second, different are those who stand at either end,  
But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;  
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,  
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;  
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right  
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

It took forever but eventually Isabella decided on one potion. She knew for sure that it wouldn't be a poison it would either let her move forwards or backwards, she would just have to see which. She grabbed the bottle it was in and drunk the contents in one swallow, cautiously she walked towards the black fire and held her hand out in front of her. Her fingertips hit the fire first and she immediately paused and waited for the burning sensation to start, after a few moments though she felt nothing. Relaxing her whole body, which had tensed up as she approached the flames, she grabbed the door handle, pushed open the doors and walked through the fire into the next chamber.

Immediately after she passed the doors they slammed closed behind her and the fires stayed lit, it was Quirrell's turn now.

She assessed the room she had entered into, in here there were no fancy enchantments, no games, no riddles and no beautiful stained-glass ceilings; in fact, it was all rather boring. The walls were old and falling apart in places, there were no windows only the candles giving off light and the chamber was completely empty, except for one large item in the middle of the room which was covered in a red sheet.

Not one for taking chances Isabella pulled out her map and tapped it with her wand. The ink slowly started to fill the page, she could see Quirrell in the room behind her and she could see herself stood in front of the ' _Mirror of Erised'_. She desperately didn't want to see what was in the mirror, but if that was the only way to get the stone, she knew she would have to. She was starting to fold up the map and put it away when something else caught her eye, at that exact moment Harry, Ron and Hermione were running up the third-floor corridor towards Fluffy.

'They're too late,' she told herself, 'there is nothing they can do to stop us now.'

She walked towards the mirror and reached out to grab the red fabric, taking a deep breath first she waited, then pulled it off the mirror leaving her stood facing her own reflection.

At first, nothing happened, but then the reflection of herself seemed to change before her eyes. She was looking at her Hufflepuff persona, she was smiling sweetly and genuinely as the mirror started to fill up with people, some she knew and some she didn't. There was Snape, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore, there were also other ginger people there who she assumed were the rest of the Weasley family. But the two people sanding closest to her she couldn't even guess their identities.

One of the men had waist length black hair and grey eyes, he was dressed finely in a wizarding robe and suit underneath, his eyes were light and laughing. Despite the wrinkles on his face he seemed much younger than he must have been. The other man was much less well kept, his clothes were ragged and old, the hems coming undone and fabric starting the fray, but despite this he was very handsome. His sandy hair was tied on the top of his head, allowing his scarred face to show in the light, but even the scars didn't take the beauty away from his smile.

Isabella found herself smiling for real as she stared at the mystery men in the mirror, not knowing who they were but wanting to. In that moment she was a direct reflection of the Hufflepuff everyone thought she was, but before she could get used to it the image began to flicker and the faces of the people began to change.

The men by her side turned into Lucius and the dark lord, and all the people stood behind them were wearing Death Eater masks looking on menacingly. The most dramatic change however was herself, the smile changed into a smirk and her eyes narrowed. Even the colours on her robes changed from yellow and black to silver and green, this was her true self, her Slytherin self. The girl in the mirror lifted her sleeve and showed off the tattoo on her left forearm. This is what she wanted most, to be in the service of the dark lord beside her fellow comrades, to be back within the ranks of her family and friends.

The two different images began to flicker between one another, every second they switched as if the mirror didn't know which it wanted to show her, before eventually all that was left were the two versions of herself. They both had her face but they looked so different, one cruel and calculating and the other open and kind. They began to merge together and when it was done she was looking at her own reflection again and nothing else. Her face had turned slightly white and sweaty, her eyes wide in shock and her mouth hanging open.

"What the hell was that?!" She muttered to herself quietly, so that Quirrell wouldn't hear her from the next room.

She thought it was over as she began to turn away from the mirror, but her reflection didn't move with her. She stared at it until something happened.

The girl in the mirror finally turned around shocking Isabella. On the back of her head was another face, her Slytherin face, it looked exactly like Quirrell did without his turban on, only they were both her. She was staring at her own two-faced reflection.

As she gasped at the mirror, Quirrell finally walked through the doors behind her. She collected herself in a matter of milliseconds and turned to look at him, forcing the images the mirror had shown her out of her head.

"Finally, thought you were going to rot in there forever Quirrell. Bit too tricky for you was it?"

"Where is the stone?"

"I don't know, the map says it's where the mirror is but I can't see it."

"What map?!" He looked as if he didn't want to know the answer to the question.

"I have a map, that lets me see where every person, creature and magical object is within the castle and Hogsmeade at any given point." She said smugly, enjoying his shock, "and before you ask, no. I've spelled it so I'm the only one who can read the ink.

"The marker for the Mirror of Erised appears directly above the Philosopher Stone. It should be where I'm standing right now."

Quirrell walked over to the mirror and began to cast spells on it, obviously trying very hard to ignore his own reflection. She walked over to the stone steps and sat down watching him work, it was about time he did something useful after all of the effort she had been putting in. Some muffled hissing interrupted their silence a short while later, and Quirrell began to unravel his turban again, allowing her to speak with Voldemort face to face.

He looked at her assessing before he even spoke, she felt as though she were rooted to the spot with his eyes on her. It was something she truly found unbelievable, that the greatest wizard of all time was currently stood before her after surviving his own death 11 years prior. She felt so insignificant in comparison to him and his power, she wanted more than anything to become one of his people and help him re-shape their world.

"Tell me child. You looked into the mirror, what did it show you?" He asked her with a challenge in his eyes.

"It showed me myself, standing by your side with the dark mark on my arm. I was in your service, among the ranks of other death eaters including my old family." Hoping her reply would appease him, she sat and waited for his response.

He smiled as well as he could, with the stretched skin on the back of Quirrell's head. "My child, one day such a vision will be true. You have already done so well, you almost fooled even myself with this little act of yours. Continue with it for as long as I need it of you, and don't tell anyone of your true loyalties, when I am at full strength you will tell me everything you have learned from the light. Then I will reward you with you mark, once you have proven yourself to me."

She was about to reply when they doors behind them were set alight, someone had entered the potion room.

"Who is that?!"

She pulled her map out quickly and checked, "It's Harry Potter my lord." She said nervously looking up at him.

"Go and hide yourself girl, do not be seen! Quirrell cover me!"

She immediately got up and walked over to a pillar near the door, hiding herself behind it. Just as Quirrell's hands fell back down to his sides after re-wrapping his head, Harry ran into the room wand at the ready.

Isabella couldn't really remember what happened next, somehow Harry managed to get the stone after looking in the mirror and Lord Voldemort ordered Quirrell to go on the attack and get the stone for himself. But then… He was gone.

Harry had somehow defeated the dark lord again.

She didn't care that Quirrell had just died, she just wanted to know what had happened to Lord Voldemort. She had seen his spirit lift up out of Quirrell's ashes and slam through Harry's body leaving him unconscious on the floor, but then he just disappeared. She was stood in shock not quite believing that the dark lord was gone again, everything she had done was for nothing, she was certain it was all over when a voice filled the room.

"Leave girl!"

It was Voldemort's voice, he was still there, and she didn't hesitate in following his command. She walked towards the double doors and back through the potions chamber, where there was thankfully no fire blocking her exit this time around. When she walked into the next room she saw Ron's body lying in the centre of the chess board. She stood over him and watched as his chest rose and fell with ease, but before she had a chance to rectify that there was a crashing noise coming from the corridor, followed by thundering footsteps as several people ran towards her.

She quickly managed to hide herself behind some of the discarded chess pieces as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Pomphrey all ran into the room and straight to Ron's side. She held her breath from where she was standing, peaking around the rubble quietly so she could see what was going on. The tension in the room was thick as the Professors spoke quietly among each other, if any of them looked around she would definitely be caught, and Merlin knows what they would do with her then. Thankfully, after some quick diagnostic spells they deduced that Ron would be fine for the time being and left him under the close care of McGonagall, the other three proceeded on to find Harry.

This would be her only chance to escape without being caught, she cast a disillusionment charm on herself and silently escaped the room without catching McGonagall's notice. Once she was clear she ran back through all of the rooms, blasted a hole through the Devil's Snare with a spell and levitated herself up through the trap door into the third-floor corridor, where Fluffy was still peacefully sleeping.

It was a quick journey back to the Hufflepuff common room, and not a single person was patrolling the corridors making it easier than it should have been. She rushed passed the sleeping portrait and ascended the stairs to her room before casting silencing charms around herself, only seconds before she broke down.

She spent the night screaming, crying and sobbing out her grief and misery. She was once again trapped in self-loathing at her failed attempt to resurrect the dark lord, but she swore to herself that night.

She would resurrect him. Whatever the cost.


	14. Forgotten Masks

『 Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection 』

_Forgotten Masks_

 

Isabella had gotten no sleep that night, and was the first person to arrive at the great hall for breakfast the next day. As more people joined several tried to lull her into conversation without success, even Cedric couldn’t convince her to cheer up.

 

She attended classes, at which none of the _golden trio_ were present. According to the rumour going around, they had all managed to get into some form of trouble last night and ended up in the hospital wing. Most people were surprised that she wasn’t with them.

 

Over the next month she couldn’t be brought out of her sulk, not by Ron and Hermione, not by the twins and not even by Cedric. Ron had left the infirmary a week after the incident and proceeded to tell the whole school everything that had happened, making the three of them ‘Hogwarts Hero’s’, as they had been so lovingly dubbed by the school population. Most people assumed she was just upset about moving into the orphanage with school coming to a close, which she hadn’t even thought about until it was brought up.

 

But no. She was upset because Voldemort was gone, Harry had taken him away from her. She was sure that he would come back and she would have another chance to prove herself, but who knew how long that would take, how long would it take for her to get her old life back together?

 

Another thing that was plaguing her was the vision shown to her in the _damned_ mirror. Not the image of her with the death eaters, the one of her with the members of the light and those two mystery men. She didn’t even know half the people that were shown to her but somehow, she wanted that image to become real just as much as the other. It was all very confusing for her.

 

Harry was still in the infirmary and she occasionally visited him in order to keep up appearances, truthfully every time she saw him lying on the bed unconscious she just wished she could finish what Voldemort had started. She felt murderous whenever she was around him, but the last thing that Voldemort had asked of her was that she continued on as she was.

 

She had to remain his friend, she had to convince everyone around her that she was kind and loving and would fight _with_ them at all costs. In order to cheer herself up she tried to imagine all the different ways they would react when they realised the depth of her betrayal. She would do whatever it takes to become as close to them as she could. She would find out all their deepest darkest secrets, their schemes and plans, she would ruin them at every turn and only when they were at the mercy of her wand would they know why they had failed so badly. That was what she had planned for them, in this moment she hated them. Regardless of any mirror fantasies she had seen.

 

* * *

 

Another 3 weeks passed and the next day they were all due to take the Hogwarts Express home, Harry was still knocked out in the Infirmary but had apparently shown signs of waking that morning. As soon as she heard the news she started toward the infirmary, Ron and Hermione were sitting their last exam so she would be going to see him alone. When she got to the entrance of the Infirmary Professor Dumbledore was already there talking with him. She hid herself around the corner and listened in to what they were saying.

 

“Does that mean, with the stone gone that is, that Voldemort can never come back?” Harry asked Dumbledore, he had obviously been caught up on the events that had transpired since he was attacked.

 

“Ah I’m afraid, there are ways in which he can return. Harry, do you know why Professor Quirrell couldn’t bear to have you touch him?” Isabella couldn’t hear a response from where she stood, but he must have given one as Dumbledore continued on. “It was because of your mother, she sacrificed herself for you and that kind of sacrifice leaves a mark. This kind of mark cannot be seen, it lives in your very skin.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Love Harry. Love”

 

Isabella rolled her eyes upwards. It made sense what he was saying, but that didn’t make it any less sappy. As much as she idolised the dark lord, it was no secret that he barely had any contact with his emotions, the man wouldn’t know what love is, he would never have felt it. Then again, neither had she.

 

“Ah ‘ _Berty Botts Every Flavour Beans’_ , I was most unfortunate in my youth to come across a vomit flavoured one. Since them I’m afraid that I’ve rather lost my liking for them, but I think that I could be sae with a nice toffee.” Dumbledore changed the subject to a lighter topic, feeling that now would be a good time to interrupt she began to walk into the Infirmary.

 

“Alas, Earwax.”

 

Harry was laughing at the unfortunate headmaster, when he caught sight of her his smile instantly widened.

 

“Isa!” He shouted, the headmaster’s attention was now on her too.

 

“Ah, Miss. Lestrange. I wonder if I might have a moment of your time when you are finished catching up with Harry here?”

 

“Of course Headmaster, would you like me to come to your office?”

 

“That would be lovely my dear, the password is Kopp Kopps.”

 

The headmaster left quickly after that, she went over to Harry and sat on his bed. As she was catching him up on everything that had happened while he was out, he shyly took one of her hand into his and held it there until she had to leave.

 

* * *

 

“Kopp Kopp’s”

 

The giant gargoyle shifted from its position as the stairs to the Headmasters office revealed themselves to her, for the second time during her stay at Hogwarts. She ascended the stairs and made her way to the open door at the top of them. When she walked in Dumbledore welcomed her warmly and escorted her over to an armchair in front of his fireplace, while he took the chair opposite.

 

“Now my dear, what I need to talk about today will be rather difficult, but I ask you not to interrupt while I am speaking.” He looked at her seriously, waiting for her acquiescence before he began. She nodded her head cautiously, wondering what he wanted to talk to her about.

 

“As you know, two months ago Harry Potter was attacked by Lord Voldemort in the dungeons beneath the castle. You will also know that Professor Quirrell was the one who assisted him in his plight, trying to procure the Philosophers Stone on his behalf. However, today’s meeting will be about what _I_ know.

 

“I know that you figured out what was being hidden in the castle _many_ months ago, I know that you were aware of Voldemort’s activities and Quirrell’s involvement _and_ I know that you assisted in the incident yourself.”

 

She straightened up in her chair, her head was spinning, she had been so careful she had no idea how he knew. She went to interrupt and defend herself but he put his hand up to stop her, infuriating her with his rudeness.

 

“We agreed I could speak uninterrupted Bell.”

 

He waited until she relaxed back into the chair again before he continued on.

 

“I know how you have been raised, and it only makes sense that you believe in everything you have been told up until this point. If fact, I am sure that outside your family you were not met with much kindness due to your name, but things are different now.

 

“Your family have left you Bell, and the world has accepted you. When you had the hat placed on your head at the start of the year, everyone expected you to be just like your mother, but the hat saw more in you. You defied everyone’s expectations, it is because of that reason that I want to help you.

 

“Never in my time at Hogwarts has there been a cruel or unkind Hufflepuff, and I refuse to believe that you are the only one in existence. I believe that with some time away from the bad influences in your life, you may learn what it is like to live in a world where everyone is equal. I know that this will work for you and though it may seem scary, your views will start to change and so will you. All for the better.

 

“Therefore, I think that it is best that you don’t rush into any decisions Bell. Don’t make an alliance that you won’t want to keep in 5 years’ time, you have spoken to Voldemort and you have seen him face to face, but you have not seen him clearly. Soon enough you will see, when you have been around good people in a good environment, things will start to work out for you, and you will be able to live your life the way any 12-year-old should. _Not_ doing the dirty work for dark lords, and hiding in the rubble away from those that would help you.”

 

So, he had seen her hiding from them in the chess room.

 

“You think that I don’t know what I’m doing? You think that I have rushed into a decision and shouldn’t make an alliance?” She said to him, furious after his speech, she stood up and walked towards the door.

 

“You’re too late Headmaster, I have spoken to the dark lord and I have seen him clearly. I promised him things and he promised to reward me when I delivered. No matter where you put me, or who you put me around, I’m already smart enough to know I have made the right decision.

 

“Mudbloods and Blood Traitors alike should be hiding in their homes or running away scared. I am going to bring the dark lord back, and no-one, not even you will be able to stop me, because _that_ is the _right_ thing to do.”

 

Her mask had completely fallen off in her fury, but Dumbledore didn’t even seem to be surprised by it.

 

“I believe you. I believe that this is what you think now, but I also believe that it is going to change. The only reason you would have been sorted into Hufflepuff, is because you are one”

 

“I am not a fucking Hufflepuff!” She spat at him.

 

“What did you see in the mirror?” He asked, with a small smile on his face. He hadn’t even flinched at her vicious words or behaviour, she had a feeling that he knew exactly how this would all plan out.

 

She also had a feeling that he knew exactly what she saw in the mirror. Without replying she began to walk out the door again but was interrupted by his voice.

 

“The way the mirror works Bell is rather spectacular. In an instant it assesses every experience you have ever had, every wish you have ever made and decision you have ever made, with this information it creates an image of what you want most in the world. Sometimes though, very rarely, it can show something else. If you yourself truly do not know what you want most in the world, it will help you decide. It will show you your options, places that your future decisions and wishes may lead you, it not as solid as a prophecy when it comes to telling the future. However, I honestly believe that whatever it was you saw in the mirror, you have the power to make one of those things happen for yourself, but _only_ by giving up the other.

 

“Think on that over the holidays, I will see you next year Bell.”


	15. Epilogue

**『** **Isabella Lestrange and The Two-Faced Reflection** **』**

 

_Epilogue_

 

The Hogwarts Express journey home was a happy one for most, and a sour one for two.

 

Harry was miserable about returning to his abusive muggle home, which was the only thing lifting Isa’s spirits at this point. She had been given the address of the orphanage she was going to but had to find her own way there, she spent the entire train ride sulking. At least she was speaking to people though.

 

She spent the first half of the journey with her Gryffindor ‘friends’, chatting and saying good-bye until next term. The second half of the trip was spent with her only real friend. She and Cedric spent the journey reminiscing on all the funny and happy things that had happened to them throughout the year, not focusing on anything bad at all. He promised to come and visit her at Diagon ally during the summer and she promised that if he didn’t there would be trouble.

 

It was difficult saying good-bye to him. He was the only person she had truly come to rely on and the silly crush she had on him was only getting worse, it’s not like he would be interested her in that way since she was so young. Maybe in a few years though, she thought to herself.

 

The train came to a halt and everyone rushed off to go and find their family, but since she had no-one waiting for her she decided to wait for the platform to empty a bit before disembarking. Soon enough the platform was almost unoccupied, she took her trunk off the shelf and carried it off the train. She had been one of the few smart enough to place a feather light charm on the case while still at Hogwarts.

 

She walked through the wall at platform 9  , and landed on the muggle London platform at King’s Cross station. A short walk later she found herself in Diagon Ally looking at the most rundown and rugged looking orphanage she had ever seen.

 

Just as she was about to walk through the gate and up to the door, three children came flying past on miniature brooms, screaming as they went and almost knocking her off her feet.

 

‘I’d rather be living with mother.’ She thought as she knocked on the door.


End file.
